The path I walk
by hatake34
Summary: The fourth Shinobi World War is over but Naruto has failed to save all his friends. When presented with another chance will he choose the path he will not walk?
1. Chapter 1

**I was bored so I decided to post this. As in completely bored and also since 'Kakashi Reborn' is in a complete mess. This was just to take my mind off things.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, would I be here? By the way is Kishimoto-sama here? I mean he could be one of the thousands of Naruto authors under some random name. Your favorite or your worst writer could be the man himself. Maybe he comes here to get ideas for Naruto. This is going to eat me alive for a while.**

**Chapter one**

Uzumaki Naruto looked around him, a big grin gracing his features. In front of him to his right, lay the so called second of the six paths, Uchiha Madara. Konoha's founder lay on his back with a nice clean hole on the left side of his chest, courtesy of Uchiha Sasuke. Madara's descendant had cut through his aorta with a perfectly aimed blade made of lightning chakra.

It was just too bad that that was the last thing Sasuke did.

Numerous third degree burns covered his body. In some places it was so bad you could almost see bone. Somehow his face and the Uchiha fan insignia remained unmarred which made him, even when dead, look cool. Naruto smirked at that. He knew he would get no answer but he had to ask how the teme had managed to do that. He tried to form the words but found himself incapable.

Naruto was not the last man standing of the most epic spectacular battle, he was far from it. If anyone was asked they would say that Naruto had the most gruesome injury. He was the big winner in that situation. His blood stained hands pressed onto his stomach in a futile attempt to hold the blood and other organs in.

That's what happens when you have a kunai shoved into your gut, with the hand holding the kunai following it.

He had lost a tremendous amount of blood. The only reason he was still alive was the Uzumaki vitality he had inherited from his mother. But even that was starting to lose its effect. Naruto could feel his heart beat slowing down. With every passing second his lungs grew weaker. His eyes were slowly losing that bright light that shone so prominently within them. He couldn't even cough out the blood that was slowly filling his lungs.

Madara was dead. Akatsuki had been destroyed. The shortest war in history was over. But Naruto wasn't ready to die yet. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path had been destroyed and the chakra of the ten tailed beast within it had been dispersed. But it would collect again and the results would be catastrophic.

'_I can't die here! I have to prevent the chakra of the Juubi from collecting because…because…_'

'_There's no one to do it for me._'

On the previous day, in one carefully calculated and planned move, Madara had wiped out the Allied Shinobi forces. A devastating blast of the ten-tailed beast's chakra was all it took. With the force of a nuclear bomb, more than half of the Elemental Nations would never be the same again. Anyone who had miraculously survived died five minutes later due to the highly toxic nature of the Juubi's chakra that still lingered.

There had been only four survivors: Madara, Sasuke, Naruto and one Haruno Sakura. Well Naruto wasn't technically a survivor since he had been dead throughout it because the Kyuubi had been extracted from him. Sakura had been lucky enough to find Naruto and with the use of Lady Chiyo's jutsu, she revived Naruto at the cost of her own life.

Naruto would never be able to describe waking up to see his friend over him. The girl had obviously cried while she had been doing it. The pain dug deeper than Madara's kunai. Still grieving, Naruto turned his sorrow into Madara's despair when he showed up in time to destroy the statue thus wrecking Madara's plans beyond repair.

What followed was the most epic battle Naruto had ever been in. Him versus Madara and Sasuke. Halfway through the battle it became Naruto and Sasuke versus Madara. They had beaten the shit out of each other, well mostly Madara had beaten the shit out of them and although it was two on one, Madara was so close to destroying them. The rest was obvious.

Naruto's job was still not done. He couldn't die yet but death's embrace was unrelenting and Naruto's vision began to dim. How he had let it come to this, he did not know. His friends, family and comrades were all dead and their friends, families and comrades were also dead. Even worse was that the Juubi would be back with a vengeance.

But worst of all was that Naruto realized that he was going to die, all alone without ever having found the answer to peace.

That was Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto's last living thought.

As soon as Naruto's eyes closed he opened them again immediately. He realized he was still in the field where he had fought Madara but something was obviously different.

For one, Madara's and Sasuke's bodies were gone. Another difference was that the wind was far much stronger here, enough to mess up his hair even more. He was completely surprised when he saw no trace of blood on his clothes. In fact there was no big hole in his body any more. Naruto was in his unblemished black and orange outfit.

Perhaps the most surprising of all was that when he looked up to the sky he saw no bright shining sun. Also there were no clouds. The sky wasn't even blue anymore.

Instead it was like the sky was one huge white screen. It was so bright Naruto couldn't bear to look at it. It sort of made everything look paler. He walked forward through the tall grass as his ocean blue eyes scanned the area for a sign of life.

It wasn't long before he saw one. A man in dark clothing stood a little way from him. As soon as he noticed him the man made a 'come hither' gesture with his index and middle finger. Naruto decided to just go to him because he wanted some information on this new world.

Soon he was standing across from the man, Naruto with his hands in his pockets in a slouched posture and the man with his arms folded above his chest. The ocean blue eyes and dark coal eyes never left each other.

'_He kind of looks like Sasuke, but with much cooler hair_' Naruto thought. Indeed, while the man had bangs on either side of his face, the jet black hair did not have Sasuke's duck butt end. (Just think of Jin Kazama from Tekken in his suit)

The man broke the silence with a deep authoritative voice. "Do you know why you're here?"

Naruto ventured a guess. "Because I'm dead?"

He nodded, and then there was another stretch of silence. '_Well his conversation skills are on par with Sasuke's. That I'm sure of_'

"It is not wise to compare me with a mortal."

"Ookaay" '_How the hell did he know that?_'

The man apparently finished with his observation of Naruto got right down to business. "You want another chance, don't you?"

Naruto's eyes widened. "Can you do that! Oh man! Please let me go back! There's still so much to do!"

The man's hard expression did not falter. "It's too late for that."

"What do you mean it's too late!"

"That world is already doomed. Its fate has already been sealed."

Naruto got into the man's personal space with an enraged expression. "Listen pal, I don't know you but I know a guy just like you. Throwing around all this fate nonsense. If you go on like that, then I'll show you the light just like I showed him: by kicking. Your. Ass."

As soon as Naruto finished speaking Naruto noticed something. The man he was currently bitching to suddenly looked taller and more ominous. How the hell he accomplished that, he did not know. His expression clearly told Naruto that he should back off or bad things would happen. So he did.

The man carried on as if that little blow out had not occurred. "That world cannot be saved as of now. You would accomplish nothing."

"I would!"

"And even though it wasn't doomed. You cannot go back. You already died once and you went back. You cannot return once more."

"The hell?"

"There is always a first chance, rarely a second but never a third."

Naruto stared coldly at the man. "I see. So I'm supposed to give up, let everyone's hard work, risks and sacrifices mean nothing?"

The man's eyes narrowed. "You've already used that tone with me once mortal. I don't give second chances."

The two regarded each other for several seconds leading to another tense silence. Honestly, Naruto felt he could cut through it with a knife.

"Fine, but I'm not gonna take this lying down. I'm not gonna rest in peace knowing that I've failed. So I'm gonna have to ask for another option pal." Naruto demanded.

There was a gleam in the man's eyes as he spoke his next words. "She was right. Truly you're will and determination knows no bounds, Uzumaki. I see now why you are a pure soul. And as a pure soul you have been presented with another choice."

"A pure soul?"

"An incorruptible soul."

"Oooooh"

The man's eye twitched.

"But I can't be a pure soul. I mean I've killed and I've lied and everything-"

The man held up a hand. "Spare me Uzumaki. You pure souls are always the same. In regards of your other option will you take it?"

"Tell me what it is first."

"You can't save this world but you can save another. Will you take that option?"

"Another world?"

"A world where things happened differently. Think of it as an alternate reality."

"So this world is similar?"

"In a sense. Your goal in this world can be accomplished."

"I can save my friends? My comrades?"

"By taking this option, they can be saved."

Naruto had a feeling that this guy wasn't being entirely upfront but he had heard enough. He would be able to save them. Naruto bowed his head and clenched his fists. He was going to do this for them.

"I accept."

As soon as he said this the wind seemed to blow more strongly. The cool air that washed over them tickled Naruto's neck but he didn't react to it.

So what am I doing? What's the option? Am I going to this new world?"

The man held out his right hand. "You are not going anywhere Uzumaki." This was followed by the snapping of his fingers. "He is." With his index finger he pointed to behind Naruto. The former Jinchuriki mouthed "Who" before turning round swiftly.

There was another man standing behind him with his back to them. He was obviously lost or confused shown by the fact that his head was swiveling round as if trying to identify where he was. Naruto found that he couldn't breathe.

The new arrival had blond hair, a bright blonde, just as bright as his own though it appeared longer. He also had a white short-sleeved coat and since the man's back was turned to them the kanji for Fourth Hokage on the back of his coat stood out as clear as day. The coat swayed in the wind, making the flame-like motifs on the edges look like they were alive.

"D-Dad!"

The Fourth Hokage turned round just as swiftly before freezing at the sight of Naruto. The two ocean blue eyes locked onto each other before Minato took notice of Naruto's whisker marks on his cheeks. "N-Naruto?"

In less than a second the two were already hugging. The man had to admit that it was very fast. Father and son embraced each other for a long time, each of them shedding their tears so that the other would not see.

Finally Minato drew back but his hands remained on Naruto's shoulders. "Look at you. You're all big. Almost as tall as me." Minato stopped there in order to hold back a sniff. Naruto had no qualms about that so he sniffed while rubbing his eyes.

Minato was speechless. Minato was speechless. He had been in the belly of the Shinigami a minute ago and now he was holding his son in his arms. It was too good to be true. He said the first thing that came to mind. "How have you been?"

It wasn't really the right question for the moment but Naruto didn't seem to mind. "I've been fine dad. Just…just been hanging in there, you know *sniff*."

Minato nodded before just hugging Naruto again. "You've grown so much. Kushina would love to see this."

Deciding that it was enough the dark-haired man ruined the father-son moment. "Uzumaki, Namikaze."

Minato finally noticed him and drew back from Minato once more. "Naruto, who is this?"

The former Jinchuriki sniffed once more. "Oh this is the guy who brought you here. I don't know how. He just snapped his fingers."

"Really?"

"Yeah and there's something I need you to do for me."

"Hmmm? What?" Minato turned his eyes back to his son.

Naruto took in a deep breath."You see, Uchiha Madara, the guy you wanted me to kill declared war against every ninja and then I managed to control the Kyuubi's chakra and then this guy Kabuto raised like everyone from the dead and then we had to fight those zombie people and then I had to fight the Raikage and then I had to beat so many Zetsu and then I had to-"

Minato who was unable to keep track of what Naruto was saying decided to stop him there, besides the dark-haired guy appeared to be increasingly irritated by every single word and Minato did not want to get on the bad side of someone who could actually take him from the Shinigami. "Hold on Naruto. Just sum it all down for me."

Naruto ran a hand through his hair as he sighed. "Basically dad I need you to go and save this other world so that what happened in our world doesn't happen there."

Minato glanced at the dark-haired man before returning his gaze to Naruto. His expression was serious. "I see. What did happen anyway?"

"Madara used the chakra of the ten-tailed beast, you know it? The story of the Rikudo Sennin"

"Yeah ,yeah. Jiraiya-sensei told me."

"Ok so he used its chakra to destroy an entire army and more than half the elemental nations. He killed everyone, everyone I ever knew and cared about. So dad, please I need you to go and save them."

Minato began to look conflicted and Naruto knew he was close. "Why won't you go?"

Naruto grimaced. "He," he pointed to the dark-haired man, "won't let me go because I already died and was brought back to life. So apparently I don't have a third chance." He finished with a glare at the man who stared back impassively.

Minato looked between the two of them. He knew saying yes was the selfless and the right thing to do but the choice of staying here with Naruto and possibly Kushina was so much more appealing. Minato inwardly cursed. Why did he always have to choose?

"Please dad, do it for our friends, family, our comrades, the people of Konoha. Basically this is for humanity." Naruto pleaded. Now, Naruto was giving him the puppy-eyed look. It was surprisingly effective.

The dark-haired man decided to speak up. "Namikaze Minato, know that you were only taken from the Shinigami so that you could accept. If you don't I have no choice but to return you from whence you came."

Well that settled it. There was no way Minato was going back to that place if he could help it.

The yellow flash returned his gaze to Naruto and looked him straight in the eye. "I accept."

The wind became even fiercer now as it picked up dust from the ground. Naruto and his father both had to shield their eyes with their arms while the man didn't even flinch. Since the two could barely hear anything over the roar of the wind Naruto had to shout. "Dad! I'm sorry but it's you who has to find the answer now!"

"What!" Minato yelled back.

"You have to find the answer!"

"The answer!" Minato could barely see his son now. The wind tugged at him, but he refused to budge. He dug his feet into the ground.

"Yes! The answer to peace! Thanks Dad and good luck!"

Minato's feet gave way under the might of what was now a hurricane and he was flung into the air. Those were the last words he heard his son say.

…**An undeterminable amount of time later…**

When Minato woke up, he immediately knew he was in a hospital. He was too familiar with the white walls and ceilings and the strong smell of antiseptic. Groggily he sat up in his bed and placed his head in the palms of his hands.

'_Is it me or do my hands seem smaller_' was his first thought. '_Come to think of it, everything seems bigger and I feel smaller._'

He looked down at his hands and indeed they were smaller than he remembered. Under close scrutiny he realized that these were definitely not his hands. Immediately he ran his hands over his body as he patted himself here and there. This was definitely not _his _body. Everything felt completely different.

This was a child's body in fact, a very young child. His hands went to his hair and he pulled down a strand. It was blonde, exactly like his but his bangs were no longer there.

'_Oh Kami! Am I a child again?_'

The door opened and a nurse walked in carrying some sheets. Minato followed her movement. She acted as though he wasn't there. Maybe she hadn't noticed him yet?

"Excuse me. Could you-"

As soon as he spoke the first two words, the brown haired nurse had a mini-heart attack. She dropped the sheets he was carrying as she jumped back. Her hand immediately went to her chest, right over her heart as she tried to calm her breathing.

Minato just stared at her confusedly.

The gravity of the situation hit her at that exact moment. "Oh my God! He's awake." She then took off out of the room yelling, "Hokage-sama! He's awake! He woke up!"

Minato started scratching his head trying to figure this all out.

Approximately five seconds later, Sarutobi Hiruzen rushed into the room, decked out in his Hokage robes. He looked Minato dead in the eye and froze. Minato frowned. Was it him or did the old man look older than the last time he saw him?

The Third Hokage began to take slow steps toward him as if he couldn't believe the situation. When they were within an inch of each other Sarutobi flung out his arms and wrapped them around Minato. No sooner had he done that than he began muttering things like "Thank Kami"

Minato was now starting to get irritated. He could not for the life of him figure out what the hell was going on!

It was annoying.

Sarutobi drew back and once again looked Minato in the eye. He spoke, "Naruto, are you ok?"

Time seemed to freeze at that point. Minato's eyes went wide and he looked to the nearest window. In the faint reflection he could see a round face, with azure blue eyes, wild untamed blonde hair and three whisker marks on each cheek.

There was only one thing he could say.

"Whaa?"

…**Back in that place…**

Naruto was walking beside the dark-haired man to an unknown destination.

"Hey, why'd you give me that other option?" Naruto suddenly asked.

Staring ahead, the man answered. "I did not give you that option Uzumaki. If It were my choice we wouldn't be having this conversation. Someone asked me for a favor and I had to comply."

"Well then, why did this person who you owed a favor give me that option?"

"You were pure, you both were."

**It's weird what I do when I'm bored huh?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did the opening credits song would be sang by Linkin Park and they would rock Naruto like it was the shit! Or maybe I would make into a black comedy called "Killer Bee" with hoes (literally) and niggas and black language. What should I do? Linkin Park and a black Naruto? Now I'm just confused and when I rant I don't make any sense. **

**From Chapter two please note that I will refer to Minato as Naruto from there on. Just a warning and understand that Minato is now in Naruto's body.**

**Ok. I've made some changes to this chapter. There was some serious mistake I made which was pointed out by InARealPickle. How I did not see that I don't know but thank you InARealPickle. It really could have messed up the whole story since I was thinking of releasing the next chapter right before I saw your review.**

**Chapter two: Beginnings**

Naruto's breath finally steadied. He lay on his hospital bed trying to make sense of his surroundings. Sarutobi stood on his right side while a brown-haired doctor stood on his left slowly withdrawing a needle from his arm.

"What was that?" Sarutobi demanded with a hint of worry in his voice.

The doctor looked to the heart rate monitor before turning back to the Hokage. "He had a panic attack, my Lord. So far it has left no lasting effects but I need to run tests to see if it will be recurrent."

"Are you ok, Naruto?" Sarutobi asked turning his attention to the blonde haired boy. The boy opened his mouth and it was a few seconds before any words came out.

"W-Water" he croaked out. Immediately, a glass filled with cool water was held before his face. The old man carefully tipped it toward Naruto's lips after helping him sit up and the boy drank it greedily. After the glass was emptied Naruto took a few more breaths before speaking. "I'm fine, Hokage-sama." For some reason those words made the Hokage frown. '_Did I say something wrong? Maybe it's that a small boy called him Hokage-sama? But what else can you call him? Hokage-jiji? That's kind of awkward_'

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright Naruto. I have to talk to this doctor then go back to my work. I want you to do what this doctor tells you and then I'll send someone here to pick you up. He'll take you to get some ramen and when I meet you there I'll pay for all the ramen you can eat. How does that sound?"

Naruto had to smile at that. The ramen chef was still around! Maybe this world wouldn't be so bad after all. "It sounds good, Hokage-sama."

The old man smiled but Naruto could swear he saw his frown deepen before that. "One more thing Naruto. Do you remember what happened?" A puzzled expression covered the boy's face. Slowly Naruto shook his head. "I see. Ok Naruto. Remember what I told you."

He and the doctor then left the boy to gather his thoughts. As they left Naruto glanced at the heart rate monitor. During his panic attack only he had seen the number 300 flash on the machine. He frowned.

Outside Naruto's room Sarutobi quickly went from a kind old man to the man hailed across the continent as the professor. "I want you to tell me everything you know about Naruto's condition." He ordered the doctor as he folded his arms above his chest. The man before him pushed up his glasses.

"It is simply amazing Hokage-sama. After the attack on the boy when he was brought here the fact that the Kyuubi's chakra had already healed all fatal injuries making his body look untouched was simply astounding. The only thing the Kyuubi's chakra couldn't heal was the mental trauma inflicted on the boy due to a genjutsu. It must have been a powerful one for it left the boy in a vegetative state. All the tests and diagnostics we had ran on the boy turned out negative. His brain wave patterns showed no activity. He was brain-dead. He wasn't supposed to wake up.

"But he _has_ woken up."

"Yes Hokage-sama. He has woken up and we don't know how. He is as fit as a five-year old should be physically. Actually he is even fitter considering what he holds inside him."

"What about his mental state? He no longer refers to me as Hokage-jiji. Not only that but he was not as joyful as he would usually be when I offer to take him to Ichiraku ramen."

The doctor cupped his chin in thought. "It may be a strange form of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). He may have blocked his emotions slightly in order to deal with the stress, but I am not sure. We will also have to run some tests on that. We'll try to find out why he woke up but I doubt we'll find anything. I just know that the boy is a walking medical miracle. Also he has a mild form of amnesia but that seems to be clearing. He'll remember everything soon enough. I'm not sure about the attack though. I have a theory that the Kyuubi's chakra may have burned away the memory of the attack since he wasn't exactly himself at that time."

Sarutobi looked thoughtful for about a minute before speaking. "I see. I want an update on his condition when you deem him fit to leave the mission. Report to me directly. Also you are to allow no other medical official to assist you when running your tests. No one else is to move into this hospital room without authorization from me. My Anbu have received similar orders. Do you understand?"

"Yes Hokage-sama." The doctor replied. Sarutobi then crossed his hands behind him before moving to return to the Hokage's tower.

…**Hours later…**

Naruto put on the clothes which had been laid out for him. They consisted of a white long sleeved shirt, blue pants and blue sandals. It felt so awkward putting on the small clothes. In fact everything about his new body was awkward. He had hurt his ass by trying to get off the bed and misjudging the distance between his feet and the floor. He couldn't stop twitching because the body of his five-year old son was a ball of energy. Walking was awkward because of the change in his depth perception. Honestly Naruto felt like a five-month old baby instead of a five-year old boy.

The doctor's tests had taken forever. Naruto had felt the need to whine at the man several times. He had also felt the need to jump out of the window so he could get the hell away from the needles. Some annoying woman had been brought in to give him a psychological evaluation. She had asked so many damn questions that Naruto's head had begun had begun to ache.

Needless to say, they didn't get along that well but Naruto was sure that by the end of it she thought he was sane. Maybe bit more mature than normal five-year olds.

It was after he was finished dressing that the brown-haired doctor with a ponytail walked in. "Alright Naruto-kun. You're all ready to go. The person Hokage-sama sent to pick you up is almost here."

Naruto bowed to the doctor. "Thank you doctor-san."

"No, no. None of that 'doctor-san'. Just call me Daisuke."

"Then thank you Daisuke-san" Naruto bowed once more. The doctor sweat-dropped.

"Ok then Naruto-kun, I hope we never have to meet here again but if you do end up back in here, just ask for me. I'll straighten you out." Naruto smiled as Daisuke ruffled his hair.

"I also want you to have this." The doctor added before taking something out of his coat. '_Pills?_ Naruto questioned in his head. The doctor gave Naruto the small cylinder. "Listen to me very closely Naruto. Are you listening?" Naruto nodded. "These are anti-anxiety pills. You may not understand that but you are to take these pills if suddenly things become too hard. If you can't breathe, if you can't think, if your chest starts to hurt I want you to take one pill. Do you understand?" Naruto nodded and pocketed the bottle.

"Ok, so when do you take a pill?" Naruto answered him. "How many do you take?" Naruto answered correctly again. "Alright, you're good to go."

Suddenly a hand placed itself on Naruto's shoulder causing the boy to jump. "Oh, sorry for scaring you Naruto."

Naruto turned ready to yell only to find himself staring up at a Anbu operative way taller than him with a dog mask and silver hair sticking out. Even Daisuke had been startled though his eye twitching showed he was visibly trying to hide it causing the Anbu to smile behind his two masks.

The Anbu crouched down until he was level with Naruto. "You ok, Naruto? You look like you've seen a ghost." Said the operative in an overly cheerful voice.

Naruto however was shocked at seeing who he was sure to be his former student. Kami, he was big now and it seemed he had finally perfected his cheerful voice.

"I-I'm f-fine, Anbu-san. You just scared me, that's all." Naruto said finally getting a grip on himself.

"Ok so the Hokage sent me to take you to your new home and then after that I'll take you to Ichiraku's. Are you ready to go?" Naruto nodded. "Ok then. Why don't you get on my back and I'll carry you." The dog-masked Anbu turned while still crouching and Naruto wrapped his arms around the man's neck. The Anbu then stood up, his arms around Naruto's legs before turning back to Daisuke. "The Hokage is expecting you." Daisuke nodded once.

The Anbu walked up to the open window then suddenly he and Naruto were up in the air moving away from the hospital. Kakashi wanted his sensei's son to enjoy the ride so instead of moving swiftly across the roofs he opted to jump high every time hoping that it would give Naruto a little thrill. Kids liked that didn't they?

Then again he couldn't be sure. When he was at that age he was killing people.

"Naruto you're awfully quiet? Is something wrong?"

Naruto sighed. "No dog-san. It's not that. It's just that I'm seeing the village and I'm starting to remember things. Is…is it true? Does everyone hate me?" Indeed, the memories of the five-year old Naruto were starting to come to him. Flashes of here and there and every single person had those same eyes. Naruto knew those eyes. He'd seen them a lot in the Third Shinobi War most of them directed at him. But he could deal with those ones. They were his people's enemies and thus his enemies. His duty to his village was to eliminate those enemies and those enemies had loved ones and people to protect of their own.

This was completely different. Here those eyes were directed at a five-year old. A boy who had never held a blade before. All because he happened to be the one the demon was sealed into. Naruto shut his eyes as a particular memory of parents turning their children against him flashed through his mind.

Seriously, who does that!

"Ummm…well…" Kakashi was seemingly at a loss for words but that was enough confirmation for his teacher who he was unknowingly carrying on his back. Immediately through the back of his armor Kakashi could feel the boy's heartbeat quicken. When he heard the boy begin to gasp for breath, he stopped on a roof and let the boy down quickly but carefully.

"Naruto, take one of your pills now!"

Naruto, who was on his hands and knees, took out the bottle. Kakashi immediately took it from him and unscrewed the lid before pressing one pill to the boy's mouth.

A minute later, the boy had regained control of his breathing and was now resting in the Anbu's arms. Kakashi decided to answer the blonde's question. "They just don't see the real you, Naruto. They just refuse to see the real you."

Naruto stood up and frowned before walking to the edge of the roof. He looked out at the village, saw the numerous people crowding its streets, saw the ninja jumping across the rooftops and saw the village he had once led. He realized that as a Hokage he had never really known his people when he made the choice to seal the demon in his son. And at that moment, he also realized that there wasn't really much that made him think of the leaf as his home.

"Naruto?" Kakashi called out from behind him.

"I'm fine," he said without turning around. "We can go now, Ka-" '_OH SHIT!_'

Behind his mask, Kakashi raised an eyebrow when Naruto suddenly started coughing. "Naruto are you sure you're ok?" The blonde turned to him, nodding and with a fake smile on his face. Behind his two masks, Kakashi frowned.

Fifteen minutes later, Kakashi landed at one of the windows of what was to be Naruto's apartment. He opened it before dropping inside and letting Naruto off.

Naruto brushed past the Anbu and found himself in what appeared to be the living room. There was a three-seater couch with a one-seater right beside it facing away from him. In front of the couch was an old television, one Naruto doubted he would ever use. The room was pretty much empty after that. To his right was a door and when he walked into the room behind it he identified it to be a kitchen. It was pretty empty with cupboards and what appeared to be dining table in the middle. He tried to reach up to the cupboards before remembering that he was a midget now. The Anbu helped him though to show that it was only stacked with a few utensils and crockery. A door a bit further away from the kitchen led into a small washroom.

Minato walked back into the living room and up to the door that was opposite the kitchen door. This was now the bedroom which had a bed a bit bigger than him and a cupboard. A bathroom was linked to the bedroom which was already stocked out for him. Naruto's few belongings had been placed in the cupboard in the bedroom.

All in all, his new apartment was small but comfortable and pretty Spartan.

One of his memories showed him that Naruto had been in the orphanage, then an even smaller apartment before this. Naruto couldn't really complain about this one.

He walked back to the Anbu and accepted the key handed to him. "This is your key. Take care of it like the other one and if you do lose it the Hokage has a spare with him." The boy nodded causing Kakashi to frown behind his mask. Naruto hadn't spoken one word since the panic attack he had on the roof.

"Ok then, I'll drop you off at Ichiraku ramen. Ok?" Naruto's response was a nod, not a shout of joy, not a whoop, not even a smile and this made the Anbu operative known as Dog frown.

Ten minutes later the Anbu touched down in front of Ichiraku ramen. He let Naruto off before having to urge him to enter the stand, something almost unheard of. When Naruto walked forward Kakashi turned to face the civilians that had stopped in shock at seeing Naruto. A little burst of killing intent later and everyone decided it was better if they minded their own business…for now.

"How is he?"

"He'll be fine. He's changed a little but he'll be fine."

Naruto walked in to find the old Hokage already seated and conversing with the ramen chef. When Teuchi saw Naruto a smile grew on his face and he opened his mouth to speak but froze when he got a good look at the boy.

Naruto had a completely different look in his eyes. One Teuchi was not used to. He had seen the boy when he was happy and when he was sad. Now Naruto looked…serious?

Sarutobi picked up on this immediately but he saw something else in those eyes. The boy's eyes were cold. That cold look battle-hardened warriors had. A look his predecessor had during the war.

Sarutobi felt a multitude of emotions rush through him. None of them were positive. First of all he was angry. The doctor's report had specifically told him that Naruto was a normal five year old, if only a little bit more mature than one. The person sitting beside him did not look like a normal five-year old boy.

Naruto sat on one of the stools and stared hard at the table. The others could feel the cogs and gears in his brain turning. The boy was in his own little world and in that world he was going through memory after memory of the five-year old Naruto's life in Konoha. The yellow flash couldn't understand how his son had survived this far while being so positive. He wondered if the Naruto he met before coming to this world had gone through all of this too.

Soon he noticed that it was a little too silent. Upon looking up he saw that both Teuchi and Sarutobi were staring at him intently. It didn't take long to figure out why but before he could act upon it Ayame, Teuchi's daughter came into view.

"Dad? Why are you so quie-" The rest of her words were forgotten as she took one look at Naruto before reaching over the counter to squeeze the life out of the blonde in a fierce hug.

The tension n the room was immediately broken when Naruto's eyes began to bulge out of their sockets. Teuchi chuckled, "Ayame-chan, I don't think you want to send Naruto back to the hospital, do you?"

The brown-haired girl drew back and pouted at her father. "Hello Naruto and how are you?"

Naruto gasped out, "Hello Teuchi-san, Ayame-chan, I'm fine." Even Sarutobi had to chuckle at this.

"I'm sorry Naruto," Ayame apologized, "But it's been so long since-"

"It's been only three days Ayame-chan." Teuchi corrected but wisely kept quiet after his daughter gave him a glare.

"It's ok. I'm here now, aren't I?" Naruto smiled at them all and Sarutobi mentally sighed with relief. It wasn't one of Naruto's fake smiles.

The yellow flash in Naruto had to smile. These were the first people other than the Hokage to accept him.

"So what will it be Naruto? The usual? I was going to make it free but our esteemed Hokage generously insisted on footing the bill."

"Thank you Hokage-sama. Naruto turned to bow to the Hokage.

Teuchi raised an eyebrow. Hokage-sama? What happened to Hokage-j-" Teuchi noticed the Hokage waving a hand at him telling him to leave it. '_I don't deserve to be called that_' was his sad thought.

Naruto looked between the two. He had this big feeling that there was something he was forgetting though for the life of him he couldn't remember what. His efforts to remember though, were cut off when Teuchi cleared his throat.

"So what will it be, Naruto? The usual ten large miso ramen and keep 'em comin' or should I mix it up for you?"

Naruto's eyes widened at that. Ten miso ramen! Yet for some reason his body reacted to that greatly, namely the drool that threatened to escape his mouth if he wasn't careful. Here it became a case of the mind saying no and the body saying yes. Naruto finally decided that if the first bowl didn't satisfy him he could always eat the next one and when he did get satisfied he could just stop. Simple right?

Apparently not for when Naruto finally regained the ability to think consciously he was halfway through the fifth bowl. He froze and looked up at everyone. Teuchi, Ayame and Sarutobi were all smiling at him and while the old Naruto wouldn't mind and just keep inhaling the other bowls this one felt that the whole situation felt awkward.

The silence continued and Minato lifted his chopstick with noodles between them. They didn't show it but Naruto could swear their eyes were following the chopsticks while those smiles remained plastered on their faces. Ayame's giggle broke the silence but no one made a sound after that. Naruto sweatdropped.

In an effort to stop everyone from staring at him while he ate (Minato hated that) Naruto started a conversation. "Hokage-sama, I want to be a ninja."

No one flinched at this. The boy had asked this question before and everyone already knew Sarutobi's answer. "Don't you remember that I told you that when you're older I'll let you join the ninja academy?"

Naruto froze for a moment as that particular memory resurfaced. "I know you said that but I would like to be a ninja now." Naruto had a plan. His son had told him that he had mastered the nine-tail's chakra yet he had still lost. That meant that the man he had fully come to believe was Madara would be completely difficult to overcome and he had to be strong enough to fight on even grounds with him as soon as possible.

He could train himself but that wouldn't get him as far as he needed because he wouldn't be able to challenge himself to gain experience with this body nor would he like to be caught by someone else doing something a five year old shouldn't do.

Luckily for him someone was listening in on their conversation.

"Naruto, I know you want to be the Hokage but the path is full of hardships. I simply don't think that a five-year old such as yourself is ready for such things. When you're eight I'll let you enter, alright?"

Naruto blinked. '_Hokage? When did- Oh that's right. This Naruto wanted to be Hokage but if I want to beat Madara I can't be Hokage. I am his target and as his target I put the people close to me in danger. Although I cannot excuse the leaf's behavior towards my son I cannot let them be caught in the crossfire and being a Hokage will definitely do just that._'

His analysis finished Naruto turned to the Hokage once more. "I don't think I want to be a Hokage anymore. I don't know how you deal with all that paperwork Hokage-sama, but I sure can't."

Everyone in the stand chuckled. They had all been wondering when the hyperactive blonde would consider the bane of all Hokages: the dreaded paperwork.

"Oh? So why do you want to be a ninja Naruto?"

"To be strong."

"Strong?"

"Yeah, strong enough to protect."

"What will you protect?"

"The people close to me, the people of this village."

"You want to protect this village?"

Naruto thought about it for a minute. The thought of fighting for the leaf wasn't as exciting as it used to be in his former life. Though he figured it was his best bet if he wanted to become a ninja. If Jiraiya was here he would have backed him up. Come think of it, where the hell was Jiraiya anyway? Why wasn't he here being a godfather to Naruto. His memories showed that the five-year old Naruto had never seen or even heard of the man.

"Yes Hokage-sama, I would fight to protect the leaf."

This was enough for the Anbu listening in for before he left when another operative relieved him of his post.

Sarutobi saw the determination shining in Naruto's eyes but he saw something else and he knew the boy was hiding something. He wouldn't pry, for now.

"Naruto, it warms my heart to hear you say those words but I simply cannot let you become a ninja now even if I wanted to. There is a law that states that one can only join the academy if he or she is above eight years of age. For now it would be better if you just enjoyed your childhood."

"What law? Didn't Uchiha Itachi-" Teuchi was swiftly cut off when the Hokage held up his hand. But what truly stopped him was not the Hokage's order. It was the flash of emotion on the man's face. He wasn't actually sure it had even happened, but if he truly believed it and had to guess what it was, his answers may have been: hurt, pain, sadness, worry, stress and guilt. But this was the Hokage. The one who had ruled since he had been smaller than Naruto. He was always strong.

He really didn't know that his Hokage was slowly falling apart.

That shot Naruto's plans to hell. It would be a whole three more years before that happened and he simply did not feel like enjoying life as a five-year old in a village full of people who hate him until then. Funny, he didn't remember such a law.

Ayame decided to join the conversation.

"Yeah Naruto, There's no point in rushing such a thing. Three years isn't much is it?"

"Sure Ayame-chan." Naruto slid off the chair leaving his half finished bowl of ramen on the table.

"Where are you going Naruto?" Teuchi questioned.

"To do some thinking," was Naruto's reply.

Teuchi turned towards his daughter. "Did he say thinking?"

The old man was beside Naruto in a matter of seconds. "Do you want me to escort you home?"

"It's ok, Hokage-sama, you need not worry yourself over me."

Sarutobi stopped where he stood. Naruto's new vocabulary was shocking. He wondered where he could have picked up.

Sarutobi watched the boy turn into what was now an empty street before looking to the shadows. He gave a quick nod and felt the Anbu operative leave the area to get to the boy. The old man sighed.

'_Minato, where did I go wrong?_'

…**Ten minutes later…**

Naruto fumbled with the key to his new apartment before he finally managed to open the door. After placing his shoes next to the door he realized he wasn't going to get any sleep. So instead he decided he would sit on the couch and think until he came up with a solution to his problem. It wasn't long before he realized there was another problem. Someone was already sitting on his couch.

At least that's what his eyes were telling him. There was a dark figure on his one-seater couch. His hand moved toward the light switch and he flicked it on.

Naruto found himself staring at an old man with black shaggy hair. His right eye was bandaged with the bandages running around his forehead and the right side of his face. On his chin was an x-shaped scar. He wore a white shirt with a brown robe covering from his feet to just over his right shoulder and his right arm was in a sling.

'_Danzo_' Naruto did not let the recognition show in his eyes.

"Who are you?"

"I am but a shadow." The war hawk replied.

"Huh? Whatever, you better leave because there are Anbu all over the place." Indeed there were. Sarutobi had stationed two Anbu around the house. One was to follow Naruto wherever he went and the other stayed at the house making sure nobody left Naruto a 'housewarming' gift.

"And I assure you that they are doing their job. For the duration of our conversation they will not interfere unless necessary."

A five year old may have had trouble interpreting that but the yellow flash in this five-year old understood it perfectly. '_They're working for him. There are operatives who are loyal to him? He implanted them. I always knew he was up to something._'

"Those guys work for you, don't they?" The blonde narrowed his eyes. Danzo stood up.

"You're a smart one, aren't you?" He began to approach the boy until Naruto had to look up to meet his gaze.

"What do you want?"

"I want to help you achieve your goals."

"Excuse me?"Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"A…friend of mine overheard that you want to be a ninja."

"So what if I do?"

"I can help you in that endeavor."

"What?"

"I can help you protect the leaf. I can train you, guide you along that path you wish to take." Naruto narrowed his eyes. "The old Hokage will keep giving you excuses if you continue to pester him but I will give you what you seek. He does not see the potential in you like I do."

"Hmmm…what if I say no?"

"You will forget we ever had this meeting." Somehow Naruto had a feeling the old war hawk was being completely literal about that part. Aside from whatever plans this man held for him, this was an opportunity that had presented itself at exactly the right moment since Sarutobi was being mean about it. With Danzo's help he could become strong, strong enough to possibly be a match for Madara.

It would be hard and he knew this guy would try to rob him of his emotions by doing terrible things to him, but if he played his cards right he would be the one using Danzo instead of it being the other way around.

Plus there was that voice in the back of his head that kept saying, **"Take it fleshbag! Take it!"** At least, that's what he thought it was saying.

"Well Naruto-san? What is your decision?"

"Can I have some time to think about it?"

Danzo was a statue. "No Naruto-san. It's either yes or no." After a few more seconds of deliberation the blonde gave a quick sharp nod. "You agree?"

"Yes"

"You realize that I will demand a lot from you? This path will not be an easy one." Determination shone in the boy's eyes as he said yes once more. "Very well Naruto-san." Danzo placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "From now you are a part of Ne. We are the foundation that keeps the village standing. We are the root that supports the whole tree. While the leaves bathe in the sunlight we work in the darkness. My name is Danzo and I will make you strong. Are you ready?"

"Hai, Danzo-sama."

Silence remained in Sarutobi's office as he sat in his chair facing his village. It was dark but the old man wouldn't have it any other way. He should have been catching up with all the paperwork he had missed out on when he went to eat with Naruto but if he had to give an excuse he would say he just didn't feel like it.

A poor excuse because all Kages and leaders always had to do something they didn't feel like. If there was one thing he felt like doing it was going back in time and taking Minato's place. Oh Kami, what he would give to do just that but fate was a fickle bitch and that cruel fate made he, someone who could have ended a lifetime of service to the leaf with the ultimate sacrifice get stuck here taking the reins back from his successor who hadn't been Hokage for more than five years. Life was unfair like that.

And here he was with a guilty conscience because he couldn't protect that very man's son.

It was strange, whenever he looked away for a moment, whenever he relaxed for a second disaster struck.

The people of Konoha had left Naruto alone after a drunk civilian who broke a beer bottle on Naruto's head was executed. They only glared at him and told their children to not associate with him. Sarutobi felt it safe to call Anbu off from guarding the boy, just to give him more room. One week later, Sarutobi woke up when he sensed the Kyuubi's malevolent chakra. He heard that Naruto is being attacked. Minutes later he arrived at the boy's location only to find the blonde lying face down on the earth surrounded by mutilated corpses. Half an hour later he heard that Naruto was put in a genjutsu that caused severe mental trauma. He may never wake up. Ten minutes later he broke his desk in rage as he wondered where Jiraiya was and why he hadn't stop this like he stopped all the other assassinations. An hour later when he was relatively calm he couldn't shake the feeling that this is not all there is to this situation.

He ordered his Anbu to investigate but they came up with nothing. Everything showed that his ninja attacked Naruto. They even managed to identify the one who cast the genjutsu, a nin who was one of the best genjutsu practitioners in his village. He could definitely cause a five-year old severe mental trauma 'till he's brain-dead. The only survivor told Sarutobi everything he'd heard before.

But for some reason he couldn't shake off the feeling and even in his office it still plagued him.

As Sarutobi added more tobacco to his pipe, he swore to have Anbu tracking the boy until he could fight on par with the sannin. Hopefully he would never screw up like that again. But did he have the strength for that. Somewhere in his mind, he realized that he was starting to lose it but he wouldn't acknowledge it. After all these years it couldn't happen now. He had been so scared when he saw the completely unresponsive Naruto. It shook him to his very core. Something in his mind snapped. It had been so bad that over the past few days he had even been contemplating suicide. He always shot the idea down quickly but that thought was always followed by the one that had another war start then he would go straight up against an army and get killed somewhere in between killing them. But…there were always so many buts.

Naruto couldn't be a ninja. Not yet. He had to have a normal childhood, he just had to grow up to be a happy man and not a cold-blooded killer filled with hate and Kami knows what.

The old man suddenly put his hand to his chest and his and grimaced. His breathing became erratic. After a few minutes he relaxed and continued to stare out over his village as if he hadn't just experienced severe pain.

Sarutobi was tired. Too tired.

**Replaced the chapter, made a few adjustments and now hopefully I can upload the next one. So I give you a Sarutobi that's going mad.**

**Can someone tell me where on the internet I can translate English to Japanese? I already know google but I may need somewhere else.**

**Does anyone recognize the panic attacks? I'll give you a clue. Nobody knows this but the Fourth Hokage had a kekkei genkai. His reflexes were so quick the Fourth Raikage has to use a lightning jutsu to only be on par with them. Some other people somewhere else also had those abilities and I'm hoping to use it for this fic.**

**It's kind of easy if you know about it. Plus the action will begin in the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Naruto. Wish I did. Then I would know all about the whole Madara-is-dead-is-not-dead thing and I would laugh at your pathetic attempts to figure out the truth. But life is hard like that and thus it is Kishimoto who laughs at your pathetic attempts. Some theories are just downright retarded and funny, no offence really. Just that this will be and has been one interesting week. The suspense has been countered with the theories.**

**Sorry but I the delay has been part lack of inspiration and part don't know what to do. You know the whole I want this to happen yet I don't know to do this thing right?**

**Hope you enjoy the chapter. I wasn't really feeling…youthful when I wrote this. Oh and this story is not yaoi if I haven't already said that. Some people might assume things from this chapter.**

**Chapter three: Training**

Soft splashes echoed in throughout the halls that were Uzumaki Naruto's mindscape. Naruto didn't particularly like the sound. He used to be Namikaze Minato, who was considered to be the greatest ninja in the world. Silence was a ninja's best friend and the splashes although soft were definitely not silent.

But for now, Naruto didn't particularly care. It didn't really matter because the person, no, the thing he came to see should already know he was coming.

In the back of his mind Naruto made a mental note to find a way to get some direct way to his destination. He considered himself smart and knew that the

Finally Naruto came into what looked like a large basement of a boiler room. Pipes hung from the ceiling and the floor was flooded over with water. At the other end was a huge gate, complete with metal bars that ran from the floor to the ceiling. There was a lock on the gate with a paper that had the kanji for seal written on it.

Naruto walked forward with tentative steps, not sure that he really wanted to meet with the being that he knew lay behind those bars. Both his feet made soft splashing sounds. It was during one of these steps that he chanced a look at the water on the floor. Ocean blue eyes stared back at him; a reflection from the water. Idly he raised a hand and ran a finger across the whisker marks on his right cheek. It was still so surreal being in what was his son's body.

When he looked back up he found himself staring straight into large blood red eyes that were bigger than him and had slits for pupils. An intense pressure descended on him at that moment, a pressure he hadn't felt for years. Whether it was five years (age of this Naruto) or around sixteen or seventeen years (age of Naruto who sent him here) he did not know, but all the same he had felt it before.

Then he had been filled with adrenaline so it didn't affect him as much as it should. Now, it really did make him feel like a five-year old child. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as he forced the fear away. There was no reason to be afraid. He wasn't the one locked up. The pressure remained but Naruto calmed down by calling on his former life's experience. At least the Naruto in this body didn't have to go through this. He could only imagine what the strongest of the bijuu's killing intent could do to an actual five-year old.

As he continued his approach of the bars, the red eyes began to move upwards as if their owner was standing up. The darkness gave way too light as soon as Minato touched one bar of what he now knew was a cage, revealing a gigantic fox with blood red fur and nine tails swishing madly behind it. Naruto felt small, not afraid-small but just small. Well maybe he also felt a little fear.

"Hello Fox. I'll admit that I never wanted to see you again and I'm sure you didn't too; well maybe you did just so you could eat me, but here we are. It seems our fates are still interconnected. So no hard feelings cause of the sealing thing right?"

The Kyuubi no Yoko gave a growl that shook Naruto's bones.

"You're Yin half says hello by the way."

It was like an explosion. The fox's roar was deafening and its chakra came out like a shockwave hitting Minato full on. All Minato saw was red, literally. He was sent flying back through the room before slamming into the spot on the wall just above the entrance.

As he fell back down to the floor in a daze, he already knew that something was different. He had felt the chakra run through him as in actually go through his body. He sincerely hoped that this couldn't be felt outside his body or the roof would be crowded with Anbu. The blonde stood up and turned to face the fox with a glare. Strangely he didn't feel pain or any kind of soreness but he wrote that down to this being _his _mind.

The fox glared back, its legs shaking slightly before just collapsing on its haunches. **"I knew it" **Apparently it couldn't do that too many times.

Naruto threw his arms into the air and comically ranted. "WHAT THE HELL FOX! IF I KNEW THIS WOULD BE YOUR WELCOME I WOULD NEVER HAVE COME! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!" The fox rolled its huge eyes.

"**Yondaime Hokage how is it that you inhabit this body?" **The Fox asked. Kyuubi's voice was definitely scary but what made the blonde's eyes widen was something else.

"Wait a second. How did you know I was the Yondaime? I haven't said anything about it."

One of the Kyuubi's tails appeared over its head and the fox used it to point at his 'host' lazily. Naruto looked down and finally noticed that the ground was much farther away from his head than it was a few minutes ago. Also he was no longer Naruto. He was _the_ Namikaze Minato again, the Yondaime Hokage complete with his white and red cloak.

"Oh so you just wanted to confirm that? You could have just asked you know?" The fox rolled it eyes again grumbling about annoying bags of flesh.

"**You have not answered my question." **The fox said.

"Well it's not like you asked nicely." The Fox visibly showed its frustration by growling even more fiercely and glaring in such a way that if looks could kill, every last bit of Minato would be wiped out of existence down to his very soul.

Minato raised his hands in a sign of peace. "Relax Kyuubi. I did not come here to argue with you. As for why I am here, well let's just put it down to divine intervention."

"**I see"**

'_Huh? No 'what the hell are you talking about fleshbag?'_' Minato thought, but he pushed it away. Who knew how old this demon was.

"Now for my question. You see Fox, my son whose body I know inhabit is practically dead or he was brain-dead. Some Konoha-nin did this to him but no one wants to tell me why. They tell me lies because your chakra burned the memory of the attack away from my mind and they know I don't know and I just can't go up and say, 'I know you're lying!' because I'm a five-year old who isn't known for knowing such things. I know you know so tell me."

When the Kyuubi's glare got worse he added, "Please?"

The glare didn't drop but the demon fox spoke, **"That is not my story to tell fleshbag. The one to tell you is hidden away somewhere in this place. But you won't find him. He will find you."**

Minato's quick mind had already figured out who that person had to be and realized that it would definitely be better if that person sought him out instead of it being the other way around.

"**I'll tell you one thing though. It involves a certain individual called Madara, Uchiha Madara."**

Minato's mind flashed back to that night.

"_Oh, you know…its fun, its part of my plan…to start a war…to bring peace…"_

"**He is the reason you sealed me into the body of your son and because of that I want to propose a deal."**

Minato raised a blonde eyebrow. A deal with the Kyuubi no Yoko didn't sound too appealing.

"**I will lend you my power without any complaint as long you dispose of Uchiha Madara."**

"How generous of you," Minato replied, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"**You know you need it, human." **Kyuubi finished. The two stared at each other for what seemed like hours before Minato assumed his thinking position which consisted of him crossing one arm over his chest, supporting the other arm with the crossed one such that the supported arm held his forehead between his thumb and index finger. His head was bowed.

Two minutes later, Minato spoke. "I believe we can work something out, Kyuubi."

…**A week after Naruto's recruitment…**

"Danzo-sama, I am here to report on the progress of Ne member Hai (ash)." A man in a falcon mask and a black cloak knelt before the war-hawk.

"Proceed."

The man stood up at attention. "As you know Danzo-sama, he has only been able to come in for training three times due to the fact that the duty of watching him changes hands from Anbu who are our agents to others who aren't. In that time, the boy has shown that he will become a very promising ninja."

Danzo grunted in acknowledgement.

"On the first day, he was drilled in physical exercises. He has shown more than what a five-year old is capable of." The nin held out a report of the drills Naruto did. Danzo flipped through the pages, nodding his head.

"Continue."

"He came again the day after the next. We worked on chakra exercises. The boy unlocked his chakra remarkably quickly but his chakra control is poor. It will need a lot of work. This is due to the boy already having almost Kage-level reserves."

"Hn"

"Even though his chakra control is poor he has shown the potential to improve it greatly. He will most definitely become a ninjutsu expert." He handed Danzo a second report which the man went through pretty much just like the first one.

"On the third day we introduced him to taijutsu and weapon's skill. In the taijutsu portion the boy's performance was excellent. He will be a very mobile fighter. What he lacks in strength he makes up for with speed using it to catch his opponent's off guard. His reflexes are remarkable. In a few years, maybe a few months they could be superhuman just like-"

"Konoha's yellow flash," Danzo finished.

The Root member nodded. "Yes Danzo-sama. With his weapon's training the boy has shown potential to become proficient with swords but has shown a propensity for dual-wielded weapons seen from the likes of Asuma Sarutobi and-"

"Namikaze Minato," Danzo finished for the nin once more. If the nin felt any annoyance there was no trace of it.

"Hai, Danzo-sama."

Danzo flipped through the third report. "It says here that the boy has a fire affinity?"

"Hai, Danzo-sama, it is odd considering his heritage but we believe it to be a result of the Kyuubi's chakra in his system. It is a very strong affinity at that. You could say that his chakra is highly flammable. His chakra did not just light a fire at the tip of the chakra paper. The paper sort of exploded into flames."

Danzo chose not to comment that the boy's codename also had two meanings now. He had first given him the codename Ash because this boy would be the ashes a completely new Konoha would rise from. The change that was needed, not Sarutobi's 'will of fire'. Now it also spoke of the boy's ability to turn almost anything to ash.

"I see. What of his mental training?"

"Hai has already lost himself to anger once when I brought up the villager's hatred to him during his training. We used that to prove that he draws on the Kyuubi's chakra when he experiences negative emotions. However given a bit more training he will possibly be able to control such emotions and with more training completely lock them away."

"I see," Danzo said. He began to walk away. "Continue his training. Make it more intense. The boy is strong, even now and he will only become more powerful."

"He will be my strongest tool."

…**Six months after Naruto's recruitment…**

Naruto or Hai as was his codename faced off against another Root nin who was roughly the same height as him if only a little taller. The blonde haired Root operative was dressed in battle gear that almost completely resembled Konoha Anbu's but his vest armor was jet black in color as well as not having the leaf symbol anywhere on him. On his face was a white mask with three jagged black lines on each side of it where his cheeks would be. He also had a ninjato sheathed on his back.

His opponent for the day was dressed almost exactly like him, the only differences being that the other nin's mask had three markings around each eye-hole and that he had a tanto on his back. His hair was an inky black, a sharp contrast to Naruto's bright blonde.

This would be the fifteenth Root nin he had been pitted against as part of his training but the first who was actually his size. Danzo really loved working Naruto to death. Granted Naruto caught things really quickly but making him fight with a kenjutsu expert the first time he was given his blade was a bit over the top wasn't it?

Naruto had left himself blank, learning all that Danzo and his other instructors had to teach him. He had done this because it was what everyone in Ne was expecting of him. If he was shown how to throw a kunai differently from how he had done it in his past life, Naruto would use that method only adding his past skills into the mix where they could truly benefit him. Even so, he thought his fighting style greatly resembled his other one as the yellow flash. Danzo wasn't the type of person to hold his hand every step of the way. He had to be creative to survive in Ne.

This method had worked nicely seeing as they all believed he was some kind of genius who was amazingly creative and surprising with his attacks and defense. Danzo was probably thinking that he was most definitely his father's son.

Said man stood off to the side of the underground cavern that served as one of Ne training grounds. The whole headquarters was just some underground cavern such that it was amazing that it hadn't been found by anyone, more so by a Hyuuga.

As if on some unspoken signal both Root nin exploded with movement. Both released a barrage of kunai and shuriken. The weapons clashed in the air, each blocking the other projectile's path. The two were not far behind and within seconds they were engaged in a fierce taijutsu battle.

Naruto's three punches were deftly blocked by his opponent who then ducked under the next before jumping up intent on making his right knee connect with Naruto's chin. The blonde stepped back while blocking the knee with his two hands. The other Root nin continued on the offensive unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks that Naruto either dodged or blocked. A part of Naruto wanted to grimace. He had let Root train his body but his mind was another matter. It showed him all of the openings his opponent left open and begged for him to take them. As the yellow flash he had been the type of nin to take you down after three or more attacks. His fight with Madara had been a good example of this.

Hai knew that seeing these openings was a good thing but right now it was highly annoying. And he couldn't reveal that annoyance since as a Root nin he was supposed to be the perfect soldier. His son was so getting it when he went back up there.

He saw his opponent's kick coming from a mile away and let it impact him in the chest. The blow made him made him fall on his back and he slid away from the boy before using his momentum to flip backwards onto his feet. His opponent rushed him arm outstretched in a punch. The blonde swiftly caught his arm before using it to throw his opponent over his shoulder. The other Root nin hit the floor harshly but rolled to into a crouch just in time to catch Naruto's sort of bicycle kick to the face which Naruto had used the momentum of his throw to execute.

From the sidelines Danzo nodded his head almost imperceptibly. '_Well played, Hai-san_'

No sooner had Naruto's foot made contact with his opponent's face than he turned into a puddle of some black substance. '_Is that…ink?_' As soon as Naruto finished that thought a miniature white tiger with black lines that looked they were drawn on it crashed into the area Naruto had stood in. It had been slow though and obviously wouldn't have caused much damage but apparently it succeeded in making Naruto jump in the air. Shuriken flew at him towards areas on his body that would have dealt a lot of damage.

Without a second thought Naruto's hands formed a cross-shaped hand signal and an identical copy of him burst into existence in a puff of smoke beside him. The clone grabbed Naruto's arm and threw him to the right removing Naruto from the path of the projectile weapons and placing itself into that path. The original Naruto landed on the ground safely while the clone disappeared in the same way it appeared.

His opponent was a metre away from him the minute he touched the ground, with a tip-less tanto drawn. The blade was pulled back to ready to slice Naruto in two. In response Naruto had already pulled out his own ninjato placing it just in time to block his opponent's lunge with his blade.

Danzo watched as the impact pushed Naruto back about two meters. He could feel the pride bubbling in his chest as he watched the two combatants. Sai, the codename for the nin battling Naruto was steadily getting driven back by Naruto or Hai.

The knowledge that he had managed to get six-year olds to battle at high-genin to mid-chunin level was highly satisfying. Sure there was a time when genin in Konoha had fought at this level but now thanks to Sarutobi and his foolish ideals the village had grown soft. Close to a half of the genin graduating this year were completely incompetent and the numbers would only grow. To him, you needed to be able to do more than perform a couple of D-rank jutsu just to become a ninja.

Why, if he was Hokage it would be trial by fire. His genin would be fighting at Sai's level. Naruto on the other hand, he wasn't sure if there would ever be a nin like him, save for the Fourth Hokage. With a perfect mind and body it was as if the Namikazes' were made for combat. With the Uzumaki vitality and stamina added to the mix, you got something way better. His eyes followed the large fireball that approached Sai. It looked like he would have to stop this fight soon.

Sai dropped back down from the ceiling which he had stuck fast to, to avoid the inferno Naruto had unleashed below. He had to jump up albeit low just to avoid Naruto's tanto which nearly severed his legs. Naruto used the momentum of the swing to spin round and round in what looked like a tornado like move. Sai unprepared for such a move ended up with Naruto too close to him. He barely managed to raise his blade again to block, this time using both hands to steady his tanto. It worked. Sai wasn't cut into two but the impact sent him flying. Sai rolled on the ground harshly, his tanto thrown even farther back. Danzo gave another imperceptible nod. It was as he had expected.

Naruto set himself into a stance to guard against any incoming surprise attacks. He didn't know what that tiger had been made of but it was still freaky. Whatever it was the technique looked like it was still incomplete seeing as his opponent hadn't made any more of those things again. Naruto had won; he knew it and the other nin sure did also. The blonde had simply much more firepower than his inky-black haired opponent and he hadn't even used Kyuubi's chakra yet.

As Sai stood up albeit a little shakily, Danzo slammed his cane down on the floor thus making both young Shinobi cease all movement to stand at attention.

"Both of you walk with me. We have much to discuss." He turned round and walked away without waiting for them to follow. Soon enough the two were walking behind and on either side of Danzo, both of their swords sheathed.

"There are important issues that must be dealt with Hai-san, such as me allowing you to go on missions now." The trio turned a corner.

Hai acknowledged that with a stiff nod at his superior. "I believe that you have shown impressive increase in skill and power thus you are ready for the outside world."

"How long can you sustain a Kage bunshin?"

"I can sustain only one shadow clone for three and a half days without the Kyuubi's chakra, my Lord."

Danzo nodded. Three days was almost supernatural. Neither he nor even the Hokage were capable of that feat. "Excellent, that will be just enough time. For these missions I have assigned you a partner. His codename for the duration of your partnership is Sai." The two young Root nin spared each other a glance.

"You will accompany each other on almost every mission. Thus you need to know every little detail about each other. You will know the other's weakness and strengths. You will be brothers in everything but blood." The two spared each other a longer glance. Naruto didn't worry about this. This guy couldn't hate or be annoyed with him if he was being trained to lose all his emotions.

They reached at what was like a cross-road of corridors where Danzo stopped and turned to face both of them. It was deathly quiet but he was used to this already. Half of the time Root felt like it was deserted.

The old war hawk looked down on the two. "You may take off your masks."

Hai took off his, revealing a young round face with messy blonde hair, whisker marks on both cheeks and ocean blue eyes. Danzo's frown was unnoticeable. He felt something whenever he saw those eyes. Those cold blue eyes that were devoid of emotion yet were filled with determination. Danzo just didn't know what it was he felt.

Sai took off his mask revealing short jet black hair, ink black eyes and pale, extremely pale skin. Naruto/Hai didn't know what to make of his new partner. The boy showed absolutely nothing. Beneath his emotionless exterior Naruto grimaced. He could tell that he would have fun with his new partner. Sai stared at Naruto as if he had never seen blonde hair and blue eyes before.

Yep, a ball of fun he would be.

"I leave you both to become acquainted." Danzo finished and he disappeared without another word. Naruto began wondering how to start off what was destined to be an awkward relationship when Sai turned and marched off back to where they came from; back to the training room.

Obviously he expected Naruto to follow him. '_Of course' _Naruto thought dryly.

…**A year after Naruto's recruitment, Naruto age: six…**

Naruto sat on the floor of what was Sai's quarters with a brush held between his fingers. The room was small and extremely Spartan, only consisting of: a bed, a desk with a lamp and a small cupboard.

Currently Sai sat before Naruto and both were surrounded by a mountain of scrolls and books. There was barely enough room to stretch and Naruto needed to stretch…so badly, but he would sooner get bullied by a villager than complain to his emotionless partner. At least Kyuubi wasn't awake right now or the Fox would have driven him mad just for the sake of it. Sai worked without complaint, his face devoid of emotion.

It was one of his newer goals in life next to killing Madara and saving the Shinobi world. Sai would smile, grit his teeth, laugh or cry before the blonde kicked the bucket.

Said boy's hand was moving over the paper flawlessly with practiced ease while Naruto's own hand was trembling. They were practicing the obscure art of sealing. Naruto had requested this of Danzo a week ago and he could swear that the old war hawk had been trying not to smile. The old man was probably thinking 'Like father like son' or something like that.

Naruto's reasons that he had told to Danzo were that he wanted know more about the seal on his stomach and any complications that may arise from it but in truth he just wanted a reason to practice sealing without anyone (any Root nin specifically) giving him problems.

The war hawk had agreed wholeheartedly agreeing to even tutor him. It figured that Danzo knew about sealing seeing as everyone had that seal at the back of their tongues. Naruto himself had one but he had long ago figured out how to break it when the need arose.

Sai had joined him and the two had established a sort of scratch my back and I'll scratch yours deal where Sai would help Naruto with his calligraphy and Naruto would help Sai with the theory.

Naruto needed the help seeing as he had spent what felt like an eternity in the death god's belly fighting against the Kyuubi's yin half non-stop. It was a bit scarring to be killed painfully by a large fox like a million times. Believe it or not it was the stuff his nightmares were made of.

Anyway, he had lost skill in drawing kanji and he was in a new body that was several sizes smaller.

The blonde could swear Sai was using this chance to thoroughly annoy him seeing as how Sai was drawing a kanji every thirty seconds and Naruto was taking a full fifteen minutes to draw a kanji that Sai deemed worthy of being used for sealing. He'd see how Sai liked reciting thirty laws of sealing in two minutes then, the bastard.

Though, he couldn't complain any more about his partner. Both already felt like the other's brother in the six months that they had worked together, just like Danzo said. He was pretty sure Root nin weren't supposed to form such bonds but he was also sure that he wouldn't be a Root nin forever and he wouldn't mind his silent emotionless and humorless partner following him.

Though, it would be a shame to leave really. Root and Danzo had grown on him.

With a mental sigh Naruto turned to face the mountain of scrolls he had to go through before he could leave to go home. It looked eerily familiar. A second later Naruto realized one thing.

'_Once a Hokage, always a Hokage_

…**Two years after Naruto's recruitment, Naruto age: seven…**

Naruto stood in a clearing with Sai crouching behind him. They were in Iwa in the mountainous region surrounded by trees and twenty mud clones from two Iwa Anbu-nin. Naruto stood in a stance with a kunai in both hands while Sai was calmly drawing on a scroll with an ink brush with his left hand. Sai was naturally right handed but that arm had been rendered useless. It was Naruto's fault really.

These particular Iwa Anbu-nin used senbon and Naruto had deflected one of those senbon right into Sai's elbow. He didn't know what he hit but Sai's hand shook every time he tried to use it. What were the chances that would happen?

As such Sai was forced to draw with his left hand which Naruto was thankful for because he really didn't need to run all the way across the countryside. But Sai was semi-ambidextrous therefore his right hand was still way better and faster than his left.

"Sai, if you could hurry up, I would greatly appreciate it." Naruto whispered over his shoulder.

"You should be more patient, Hai-san. It is not good to be desperate in such battles. I believe your instructor showed you this?" Sai said without looking up from his drawing.

"I'm not desperate. I mean we're surrounded by Iwa Anbu-nin who have better knowledge of the terrain than us and we are seven-year olds. How could I be desperate?"

"Then you should have no trouble at all holding them off while I provide our means of escape."

Behind his mask, Naruto sweatdropped. He always forgot that Sai had no idea what sarcasm was. He would have to explain the concept but now was not the time. Sai was right. There was no way they could escape on foot because as Naruto put it, the Iwa Anbu had better knowledge of the terrain. Even now, the ground they stood on was gently sloping due to them being in a mountain range. Sai's ink birds were fast, really fast and due to their small size he could easily maneuver them past the mountains. Naruto put his game face on.

The Anbu-nin were in many ways like them. They were silent, always to the point and extremely efficient in their jobs. It was just their terrible luck that they encountered them. Sai and Naruto were going back home after successfully eliminating an Iwa tea consisting of a Jounin and three genin. That team's nin had deserted their village for one reason or another so of course Iwa was also looking to kill them. The Anbu-nin had caught them in the act and now they wanted to know just who had entered their country illegally. Naruto had a sneaking suspicion that Danzo had known this would happen hence why he sent them after some random nuke-nin.

Naruto returned his kunai to his pouches and completed a sequence of hand seals in a speed impressive for a kid his 'age'. He held the last one a tiger seal and breathed in deeply.

The mud bunshin tensed.

"Katon: Basuto Kasai!"(Fire release: Burst Fire)

Naruto pushed chakra from his mouth through the mask where it ignited. Fireballs about the size of Naruto's head began flying rapidly from the boy to his targets. The first clone moved to dodge but before it could flinch, the intense heat and force baked it to dry earth and knocked is torso right off.

(The fire of such techniques isn't ignited in the mouth if I remember correctly. Like in Sasuke vs Itachi, when they both did fireball jutsu it ignited right in front of their lips.)

Naruto turned in a full circle destroying all the clones in two seconds. He finished above Sai's head who did not even look fazed that his hair had almost caught fire.

That was the first technique Naruto had created in this life. Katon: Burst fire fired off fireballs more rapidly than the Uchiha's mystical fire phoenix jutsu thus making it way harder to dodge and dealing even more damage.

Naruto didn't stop there. His hands formed a cross-shaped sign and five life-sized replicas of him appeared in puffs of smoke. Immediately he and his clones moved about into a formation where two were in front of Sai, two were behind him and one on each side of the Root nin.

In the cover of the forest surrounding them, the Anbu-nin were amazed. They were facing a child or a midget who could create Kage bunshin and utilize deadly Katon jutsu. Plus, when he moved those Kage bunshin into that ingenious formation, they had moved in such a manner that they no longer knew who the real one was. Even more astounding was that this midget had created five shadow clones and did not even look the slightest bit winded.

The other nin he was guarding could do ink creations by drawing on a scroll. Definitely impressive. Not to mention that they had taken out targets they expected to have a little trouble with, with minimum trouble.

The boar masked Anbu-nin jumped from his cover to above the trees and threw a kunai with an exploding tag. The second he appeared two sets of eyes of the clones locked onto him. The kunai was aiming for Sai's right so the Naruto in that position jumped up grabbed the kunai from the air and threw it back before it could explode right to where he knew the Anbu-nin would land.

The explosion and the dull thud that followed told him that his maneuver had worked.

The other Anbu-nin who had an eagle mask rushed forward, aiming to take advantage of the space left behind by that Naruto and eliminate Sai. The other Narutos were quick to react. One moved directly into his path and blocked his blade with two kunai. The next second, a Naruto clone slammed into his side with a painful left foot.

The Anbu-nin rolled on the ground. Naruto grunted. Unless he used the Kyuubi's chakra such kicks wouldn't cause any real damage through that armor.

The Anbu-nin tried to get back to his feet but he was immediately peppered with a barrage of kunai and shuriken. Unfortunately he just poofed into smoke and small boulder appeared. Every Naruto was back in their original position wary of any incoming attack. All that had happened in thirty seconds.

A voice boomed in the trees surrounding them.

"Doton: Kujo Joushou Iwa Chuuseki!" (Earth release: Destructive Rising Rock Pillars)

Rock pillars erupted forcefully from the ground in a straight line uprooting and breaking trunks of trees. Solutions to their current predicament ran through Naruto's mind. He didn't curse. Root had stripped away that habit.

The only technique he had that was strong enough to stop this technique was the Rasengan but he couldn't do it. One, because him doing that here in front of these two Iwa-nin would only cause more trouble and two, because he hadn't got a chance to even practice it. There was always someone watching him.

So he alerted Sai of the coming danger, giving his partner seconds to get a hold of his brush and scroll before Naruto grabbed him and jumped into the trees.

"Sai, you still can't draw while moving, can you?" Naruto inquired as they moved swiftly from branch to branch.

"No, Hai-san," Sai replied. "Not at the speed you require us to move."

Around them, Naruto's five clones were deflecting kunai and any attacks from their opponents but slowly they were getting destroyed. The Iwa nin really knew their own terrain.

"That's not good. They have powerful techniques and I don't know Raiton jutsu."

"We may have to make a last stand somewhere here where I can finish this. You have to use 'that'." Naruto gave an imperceptible nod. 'That' was the Kyuubi's chakra and he never liked using it because it felt so good to use it. The power boost was intoxicating. He felt like he could do anything. Anything included killing his comrades and not feeling a thing but elation because of it. That and after using the Kyuubi's chakra he would feel like someone had poured a liter of acid into his body.

It could be worse. The Fox could try and force more of its chakra into Naruto's chakra stream but their deal meant that Kyuubi had to be a good little fox in exchange for Naruto killing Madara.

"**Kit, earth spear twelve o'clock!" **It could also see what he does and speak to him at any time.

Naruto looked up. Indeed, a spear made of hard earth was coming straight at his face at unimaginable speed. He was in the air and the moment he touched down on the next branch, it would impale him right between the eyes.

Sai, who was beside him was far enough that he wouldn't be able to help in time. Naruto was sure that the spear was harder than his sword.

"**Do it!"**

Naruto closed his eyes as if accepting his fate.

In truth he was concentrating and almost immediately his heart rate sped up. His adrenaline levels spiked tremendously. Time slowed down and when his eyes re-opened Naruto saw everything in slow motion. It was like he was floating in the air. Everything became so clear and his arms burned with energy. His right foot touched down on the branch and in that moment the earth spear was less than an inch in front of his mask. It didn't matter though because Naruto felt like he had all the time in the world.

He pushed off the branch to the right and the spear passed his head harmlessly.

(Just think Wanted, the movie)

As quickly as it all came, the energy rush disappeared and time sped up again. Naruto was brought back to reality just in time to hear one of the Anbu-nin yell "THE HELL!"

That was his Kekkei genkai.

For generations in the Namikaze there was always one person who had panic attacks, maybe two. It was a bit rare. As far as they had known, the panic attacks had no cure and would plague them until they died. They could only tone them down with anti-anxiety pills.

In his former life as Minato, he had been the first one in his lineage to know them for what they really were. It came to him when he was trying to save a comrade from a lightning fast lightning technique from a Kumo nin. Truly one's true power is revealed when protecting those precious to them.

He hadn't told anyone about it. Not even Jiraiya, his mentor. They only knew that he would get tired after showing off his amazing reflexes. The bloodline was also the reason he could do the Hiraishin. Killing an army even with such a jutsu in two seconds wasn't possible with human-level awareness. Dodging the current Raikage's punch was not as easy as he had made it look.

As the yellow flash he had to look cool.

The problem was that it took so much concentration to start and was so taxing when it was over. Maybe it was because he had done it when he was so young. Minato knew it wasn't passed on directly so his son's body couldn't be completely adapted for it. He didn't even know how he had come to really have it but he had one possible theory. That the physical energy of his son's body had adapted to his own mental/spiritual energy and somewhere along the way he got his Kekkei genkai back.

He had also never bothered to name it.

Now as he the weariness began to set in Naruto knew he had no choice but to rely on the Kyuubi. The two burst through the edge of a forest and into a gently sloping field with boulders everywhere. The moon shone brightly such that Sai, he and the Anbu-nin could see everything clearly.

Behind his mask, Naruto's eyes became blood red with slits for pupils. His sight became even clearer. Naruto and Sai turned to face their pursuers. The blonde realized that he would have to use a little more skill if he was going to keep Sai safe enough for his partner to provide their means of escape.

His hand formed the cross-shaped seal and there were suddenly twenty Narutos. Ten moved to protect Sai while ten moved to attack the Anbu-nin, five for each.

The Anbu-nin had become more cautious. The blonde haired one had moved extremely fast. So fast in fact it reminded them of someone else who had blonde hair just as bright. But it couldn't be. This person couldn't be his son. Konoha was a bunch of tree-huggers so they would baby a seven-year old son of the Hokage not train him.

They weren't given much time to think on the matter for the clones swarmed them. It wasn't in some mob fashion. Each attack was well timed and planned. Each wielded two kunai with amazing skill. One would come in low while the other would come in high. One would suddenly break off from his target to the other startling that Iwa nin when he was suddenly facing six of them.

Expelling them was difficult for they could move and fight just as well as their creator could. And when they did expel one another one would appear. In the commotion, they just could not tell which one was making them. They appeared without the tell-tale smoke. The Anbu-nin only survived by the use of their destructive earth techniques.

But seriously, it was as if this midget had moved on to another level. There was also that malevolent chakra radiating off of him that screamed bloodlust.

The boar masked nin created an earth wall which rose to block a stream of fire from Naruto. The wall only hardened and cracked. He didn't get a chance to relax for another Naruto appeared standing on top of his wall. It unleashed a barrage of fireballs down at him and he had to back flip to get away, the flames creating small craters in the ground as they followed him. He estimated that the boy could shoot two fireballs every one second. Where the midget got so much chakra from he had no idea.

When the Anbu-nin stopped his back flips landing in a crouch, he heard a faint sizzling sound beneath him. He looked down and that was the last thing he saw.

A tag beneath his foot exploded and the fireball engulfed him. A few meters away the force from the explosion ruffled Sai's hair and raised the edges of his scroll but Sai didn't even flinch to show that he had noticed it. He was close.

The Anbu-nin amazingly was not burnt immediately. He was thrown straight up into the air like a rag-doll, with several third degree burns in his body.

Naruto appeared above him and brought his foot down. When it connected with the man's forehead, there was a loud cracking sound. The force of Naruto's Kyuubi enhanced axe-kick, broke the man's mask and skull and probably sent a few pieces digging into the man's brain. The Anbu-nin crashed into the crater formed by the explosion.

Immediately he went down, the other Naruto's surrounded the last Anbu-nin and let loose a barrage of fire-jutsu. Even Sai could feel the intense heat. The flames created what was like a mini-tornado and each had to shield their eyes.

Sai suddenly spoke, "It is finished Hai-san."

Naruto had no idea how he could say that calmly but they needed to get out of there quickly. Surely someone had seen the little fire display or taken notice of the massive fire output. He pressed his hand to the ground and closed his eyes for a second. He was right. Reinforcements were quickly approaching. Expected time of arrival: five minutes.

The flames died down leaving scorched earth and a cracked dome of earth. **"He's still alive, kit."**

'_Hn_' Naruto thought.

Sai's creation came out of the scroll. It was a bird, a black bird big enough to carry the two of them. "Took you long enough," Naruto wanted to say but at that moment the dome crumbled and the last Anbu-nin was crouched on the ground panting, his arms pressed onto the earth. Naruto tensed.

Three earth dragons burst from the earth and destroyed almost all the clones before Naruto could blink. One slammed down on him but he had already jumped away doing a perfect back flip onto Sai's bird. Sai himself was already on and he willed his bird to take off into the night.

However they weren't going to get away that easily. Sai's ink bird needed time to pick up speed and Naruto didn't like how fast the dragons were coming. He didn't worry though for he had one trick up his sleeve.

Down below the Iwa nin was snarling. They could not and would not be defeated by brats even if one had more chakra than most Iwa jounin.

He was so focused on his targets that were flying away that he didn't even react to the shadow clone that erupted from the ground behind him. The clone plunged his kunai through the armor and into the man's spine. In a spray of blood he fell forward, paralyzed.

He could only watch as the clone turned him over and slit his throat.

The earth dragons fell away crumbling into dust. Naruto confirmed the memories of the last clone before crouching. It was over. Sai's ink bird weaved through the mountains with almost nauseating speed.

"**That may have been you're best battle yet kit." **The Fox was grinning inside him.

'_Why do you call me kit? You know how old I really am right?_'

"**Do you know how old I am?"**

'_Hn…Good point_'

"That may have been your best battle yet, Hai-san. Do you want me to downplay on your performance when we report?"

"**I think I really like that boy." **The Kyuubi grinned.

'_That…doesn't sound right._'

Naruto practically felt the Kyuubi draw in breath to yell obscenities at him and pulled up a mental barrier before he was given the mother of all headaches.

… **Three years after Naruto's recruitment, Naruto age: eight…**

Sarutobi stood on the roof of the Hokage's tower admiring the sun as it rose over the walls of his village. His hands were held behind his back and his signature pipe hung from his mouth. Beside him was a weasel masked Anbu who stood at an inch shorter than him.

"He's at it again, isn't he?"

The Anbu gave a short nod before glancing behind him at the Hokage stone faces. "How many units are pursuing him as we speak?"

"Two Hokage-sama," was the quick reply, "Only unit four and unit five are left standing. He has once again effortlessly demolished the new recruits and is giving the veterans a hard time."

Sarutobi chuckled, "He's very artistic isn't he, Weasel-san?" he said between chuckles before he just burst out laughing. Weasel was an Anbu never really known to show emotion but the shock only his body language displayed was enough to be put in the records.

Suddenly the chuckles turned into violent coughs that had the professor go from clutching his ribs to clutching the railing. The Anbu beside him was alarmed but realized he could only wait for the coughs to subside. This was new. He hadn't known that the Hokage was sick. The old man had been acting differently over the past few years; a good example of the strange behavior was the laughing just before.

When they died down he spoke, "Hokage-sama, are you alright?"

The professor rose back up to his full height and turned to the Anbu making his subordinate feel very small. His expression was extremely stern. "Itachi," the use of his name did not go unnoticed by the Anbu, "You will not speak of this to anyone. Do you understand?"

Itachi reluctantly nodded, "Hai Hokage-sama"

Just then Itachi's earpiece acted up. A voice came over the line.

"Fuck! The little shit did it again! I give up! I'm calling in Weasel-san to catch him. He's our only hope."

The Hokage turned to look at the stone faces. "I believe that is your cue." The Anbu operative only bowed before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Itachi couldn't tell anyone because if word got out that he wasn't well, then Naruto might just lose his only protector. Sarutobi needed to protect Naruto just so that the boy could continue doing these kind of things.

His coal eyes roamed over the vandalized Hokage-stone faces. Below the faces it read, "TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH HOKAGE-SAMA"

Sarutobi smiled. Naruto had done so many pranks over the years, got chased by almost every Anbu operative and done every punishment without complaint just so that Sarutobi would allow him to enter the academy. A display of his skills you could call it.

Sarutobi refused every single time because he didn't think he could live with himself if Naruto ended up in a hospital again just because he got stabbed by a kunai or something of the sort.

Well the blonde would get his wish today.

It had taken a while but Naruto was finally in the academy. Sarutobi had been really stubborn about it truly believing that Naruto must have a normal childhood before he became a ninja. If he only knew that Naruto was no longer a child…

Danzo had ordered Naruto to continue his pranks so that he really would look like a child and not a trained killer. It had been extremely fun. Kushina always did tell Minato how he was missing out. He was so sure he could give Kushina a run for her money now. Also Naruto was sure he was a training exercise for newly recruited Anbu agents.

But he was seriously worried for the old man. Something was wrong, terribly wrong with Sarutobi but the old man knew how to keep a secret extremely well.

When Naruto walked into class at the ninja academy, time seemed to freeze. All the shouting, playing, gossiping and chatting ceased. All seventy eyes turned toward him.

The blonde was wearing a baggy black short-sleeved shirt over a baggy white long-sleeved shirt with baggy blank pants and black ninja sandals. On the back of his shirt was the red spiral that signified the Uzumaki clan. He had a brown backpack on his back.

Naruto let his own ocean blue eyes roam over them all before he climbed the stairs towards the back and sat at the far left. Everyone's eyes followed him every step of the way. Once he was settled his cold blue eyes stared back at all of them. At this everyone returned to what they were doing as if he was never even there though Naruto heard his name in many of the conversations taking place. "Hey, it's that kid who's been terrorizing the village!" one whispered.

"Awww shit! You think he'll terrorize us also?"

"The hell I know! I heard that none of the Anbu can catch him!"

Naruto gave a small grin. That wasn't completely true. He focused on another conversation, one taking place at the other end of the class. It was a kid with short brown hair and facial markings and a small pup on his head. Definitely an Inuzuka.

"Why did we have to come so early," the Inuzuka whined after yawning. "A man needs his sleep you know." He finished this sentence by winking at one of the girls sitting in front of him making her face flush.

"You would not nearly be so sleepy if you did not stay up watching porn last night."

This came from a boy with dark bushy brown hair and pale skin, wearing dark sunglasses and a sea green jacket with a high upturned collar. No sooner had he said those words than blood rushed from the girl's face and into her fists. Everyone turned to stare at the boy with the pup incredulously. The females glared.

The guilty boy known as Inuzuka Kiba slid down his chair sweating bullets. "I didn't watch porn!" he tried to say but no one looked convinced. He murmured to Aburame Shino, the boy who had put him in this mess in the first place. "Man, why would you do that? In fact, how would you know that?"

Shino looked away while pushing his glasses up his nose. "How, you ask? Well…" he paused as if for dramatic effect, "I know everything." He said coolly while pushing his sunglasses up his nose. As the girls leaned over Kiba the glare still firmly etched on their faces, he looked for backup from his cute pup, Akamaru but there was not a single white hair in sight. Kiba wept.

Naruto chuckling turned to the next conversation. How an eight-year old had access to porn, he did not know. Jiraiya's books must have more influence than he thought.

The next people he focused on were sitting a few rows down in front of him, surrounded by the rest of the female population that was not pummeling Kiba. Both boys had exactly the same kind of jet-black hair in the shape of a fowl's rear end. Both boys wore the same blue shirts with the Uchiha fan crest on them. One glanced back at him feeling his stare. His eyes were coal black.

The Uchiha turned back to speak to his twin. "Hey Sasuke, that's the kid whose been pranking the villagers. The one only Itachi-nee is able to catch. What do you think of him?"

Sasuke replied, "Hn"

"I know, right? He must be pretty good. He might even make these four years at the academy interesting."

"That is Hiroshi, if we don't graduate early like Itachi-nee"

Hiroshi placed his cheek on his fist, making a collective gasp be heard from around them. "True…I don't know how I'll survive with all this. When do you think they'll stop staring, Sasuke-nee?"

Sasuke was in a posture similar to his twin's. "I don't know brother. But Itachi-nee said to act cool, ignore them and they'll go away."

"I don't think it's working."

"Relax Hiroshi. When has Itachi-nee ever lied to us?"

"I hope so, Sasuke. I really hope you and Itachi-nee are correct." He finished his statement by smoothing back his hair drawing a collective gasp from the girls surrounding them and someone squealed "KYAA!" in the background.

Naruto sat back in his chair with a bemused expression. '_Mikoto had twins? That's…interesting_'

Naruto's highly trained senses picked up something. Below at the first row sat a girl staring at him with her white pupil-less eyes. Her hair was a short dark purple with bangs framing the sides of her face. Her stare was one of an inquisitive nature as if he was full of secrets. If that was true then she was definitely onto something. When he stared back, the girl noticed after two seconds after which her eyes turned cold and she turned back to face the front with all the pride in the world.

'_Most definitely a Hyuuga_'

There was a subtle tapping on his left shoulder. He turned to come face to face with Sai who was sporting a very plastic smile. His partner in Ne was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt with matching black pants and Shinobi sandals.

"Hello, my name is Sai. What is your name?"

"Ummm…Naruto."

"Naruto, is that seat next to yours taken?"

"No, not at all." Naruto said a bit awkwardly. Sai sat on his right and stared ahead with his arms resting on the desk. Naruto realized that Sai had probably never known his name before. As far as he knew his name had never been spoken once in Ne.

"**Well at least these four years won't be completely boring."** Kyuubi spoke up. Naruto took one look at Sai who was still staring ahead with a plastic smile. The blonde rolled his eyes. '_Sure_'

A chunin with dark hair in a short ponytail and a scar over his nose walked in. He placed his books and papers on the teacher's table and then faced the class. His chest seemed to inflate in size before he let it all out.

"SHUT UP! All OF YOU BRATS!" All the noises stopped and every child faced the teacher obediently. Sai nodded his head muttering, "Amazing" prompting Naruto to roll his eyes again.

A roll call was called out after which they got to introductions of themselves and to the ninja life which was all sugar-coated. Still it did make a few children look nervous. Naruto knew that part of an academy teacher's job was to thin out the numbers in the class so that only those sure they could make it in this kill or be killed world would make it.

However, he did notice the teacher glance at him every now and then with narrowed eyes. It wasn't like the hate-filled glares from the villager's. It was more like the look Kushina would get every time she was introduced to someone new. A look that said, 'How much trouble will you be worth?' Back then everyone knew of her capacity for making practical jokes just like everyone knew about him.

Umino Iruka would be an interesting teacher.

Their first lesson was history where they were given a crash course on Konoha and the rest of the Shinobi world. Naruto was about to sleep through it when Sai passed him a paper with a Root code written on it. Naruto would have cursed Sai. He didn't want the stress of decrypting any codes now even though he could do it in the blink of an eye. This was supposed to be like his vacation.

Sai's message read, "I have been assigned this mission to accompany you for the rest of your Shinobi career." Naruto blinked. Danzo really wasn't kidding when he said they would be brothers. "I have also been reassigned the name Sai for this mission."

Naruto: "Do you have any more details?"

Sai: "Danzo-sama said you must stay in the Academy for the four years and that you should continue conducting your practical jokes mainly at night."

Naruto: "Did he say why?"

Sai: "He merely said that your efforts might be needed soon. You should try to keep the Anbu as occupied as possible during the chases that follow."

Naruto: "Understood. Anything else?"

Sai: "He also said that since we are be partners (Kyuubi snickered when he read this) I will most likely have to interact with our peers. He said you will be the one to coach me so that I may fit in."

Naruto gave a long drawn out sigh before Sai passed another paper.

Sai: "Danzo-sama said to remember what you fight for."

Naruto mentally nodded his head. Sai acted like his complete attention was on Iruka.

Naruto wanted to sleep but Sai's and Danzo's words had given him a lot to think about. He wanted to fight to protect the leaf but he just didn't feel comfortable doing that as a Konoha Shinobi, not after how they treated his son. Root was a better alternative but what Naruto had in store for the future might make it imperative that his ties to the shady organization be cut. It was a shame really. Naruto had come to like working in Root. There was an unspoken sense of companionship there even if no one ever showed emotions.

His plans would require him to possibly become a missing nin and Naruto was sure that Danzo would let him if he did not harm or was protecting Konoha. Call him retarded but Naruto had also taken a certain liking to Danzo. Not that they could ever become friends but that Naruto could trust Danzo with his life. That is, if his life did not endanger Konoha. The old war hawk wasn't as bad as he seemed.

With that Naruto set to work, outlining his plans for the future in a book. He scribbled in his book and ended up writing the names of all current Jinchuriki besides him. This was information that Danzo had given him access to because all of them were future possible enemies when he told him about them.

Now, Naruto wasn't so sure.

As Iruka lectured he walked around the class, pleased to see so many pupils quickly jotting down notes, but it was only a matter of time. When they relaxed was when things would really get rowdy. He came to be walk behind Naruto who was behind the class.

He didn't know what to expect from the blonde who had been playing pranks on the village just so that the Hokage would allow him into the academy. Now that he was here would the practical jokes continue or would they cease? How much trouble would he be worth.

As he passed Naruto he chanced a look down at the boy's book. He didn't really get a good view and the boy had shifted further blocking his view though not in a way that showed he was hiding something. However Iruka did see one thing; the name 'Mizukage' which had been underlined and the letter 'P' beside it.

…**Danzo's Root Office…**

Danzo sat at his desk looking over various forms he needed to fill. He always liked to think that ruling over Root was like being Hokage only with less power and far less paperwork. But now when he thought about it he realized how small the possibility of him becoming Hokage was becoming. He was old and Sarutobi was old. When Sarutobi died it was either then or never at all.

Danzo knew this and knew that if he didn't become Hokage someone he trusted would have to take the job. His thoughts immediately drifted to Naruto.

Danzo didn't know why he would rather the boy become Hokage. He didn't know if it was because he had trained him or if it was because the boy was powerful, or if it was because of his heritage or if it was because of the determination that shone in the boy's eyes even when the rest of his face betrayed no emotion.

For when the boy first agreed to become a Root operative, Danzo was reminded of Sarutobi when he had agreed to become Hokage.

It sort of made him understand what Sarutobi had felt at the time but when it was coming from Naruto, it was admirable. Again Danzo had no idea why that was. It could really be the heritage part. Namikaze Minato was the Hokage Danzo had respected most, other than Tobirama Senju. Danzo had admired the cold blue look in the young man's eyes before he would go to do battle. He had admired the fact that the man had created a jutsu to destroy Konoha's enemies. During the Third Shinobi war he had snuck away just to witness the havoc Konoha's yellow flash had wreaked on Iwa's forces. It was a…beautiful sight.

It was just too bad that the fool Jiraiya had got to train him. Danzo at the time would have killed for potential in a boy like that but no longer would he need to feel like that. He now had his son who had the potential to become even greater.

Danzo did not know why he trusted Naruto. He did not know why he admired the boy. He did not know why he never saw the boy for the Bijuu sealed in him or the weapon he was to become.

No, Danzo did not know many things concerning Uzumaki Naruto.

And as he sat within the confines of his office, he realized he was very eager to find out.

**Hoped you liked it. Pairings undecided. Point out any mistakes you see. Oh and I'm still new to this but does anyone want to beta this story? Is that how it's done? If so know that I just can't pick anyone.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four**

**Seven years after Naruto's recruitment, Naruto age: twelve**

Naruto crouched, considering his next moves carefully. He had three opponents, each watching his every move as surely as he was watching theirs.

This was bad. He was severely handicapped in this free for all battle about to take place. His eyes fell on the eyes of the one holding the target.

She winked, a pretty little gesture. That was good. If she was on his side then the prize was as good as his.

He was forced to re-evaluate the situation when the fist passed inches from his face. Naruto snarled as he backpedaled away from the uppercut. _Sai! When will you learn to hold back?!_

The blonde didn't get far, when Sai grabbed his shirt and bodily threw him away from the group. The root nin, satisfied, turned to Hinata and lunged for her hand which held the most coveted prize; a custom-made Hyuga bento box stacked with goodies blessed by the gods.

The other contestants decided to join the competition. Sai betrayed not a flicker of emotion as he was tackled by Uchiha Hiroshi.

"Sasuke, take it!"

Uchiha Sasuke was already there, swiping and grabbing at the bento box, growing increasingly frustrated as the Hyuga heiress ducked and weaved through his attacks.

Sasuke was like a snake, his fingers seeking to grab onto the package like fangs. The Hyuga heiress was as graceful like a swan, as she never gripped the box once, instead letting it rest on the palm of her hand and it didn't slip off once.

At least until Naruto appeared between them, hands outstretched, slamming a palm into each of them. They flew apart, and the bento box was sent spinning vertically into the air, right above Naruto's head.

His heel raised as he coiled the powerful muscles in his leg to spring up and catch the box.

It was not going to be that simple. He growled in restrained anger as the sole of Sai's shoe ground itself into his face.

Use his face as a springboard? As of that moment Naruto was all out of mercy for Sai in their next Ne training spar.

"Didn't I tell you not to play these kind of games?" came the tired voice of their teacher, Iruka.

He still had the energy and precision to snatch Sai by the waist out of the air, and a second later, the bento box.

The rest of them smirked at each other, well except Naruto, who was spitting out the taste of what he believed was the toilet floor. The struggle for a Hyuga bento box was no game and it tasted sweetest when won through the harsh trials of fierce hard-fought combat.

"Iruka-sensei, you could never understand our passion," Hiroshi stated sagely.

The teacher rubbed the scar across his nose, "You're just lucky I can't punish you today. Hopefully your new sensei will beat some manners into you."

"Sensei, could you put me down now?" Sai asked dangling helplessly.

Iruka wordlessly let go and Sai would have used his skills to land on his feet gracefully, but a foot came out of nowhere and interfered with the ate a mouthful of dirt and the Uchiha twins sniggered while Naruto was suddenly fascinated in a cloud in the sky.

"Very mature," Hinata drawled sarcastically while Iruka just rolled his eyes.

"Break's over. Come in and meet your new team-mates."

As they were marched back to class by Iruka, Sai fell in step with Naruto. "I sense that we are still not even." His blonde friend turned to him and smiled. He then laughed, a laughter that came straight from the belly and was filled with amusement. The type a predator would feel when the easiest of prey tried to fight back.

It sent chills down the emotionless boy's spine.

Back in class, the room was filled with chatter as academy graduates gossiped and speculated on the teams they would be assigned to. It was like a normal day only the topic was on how their careers as soldiers of their village would begin.

Naruto listened to their chatter idly, catching snatches of their excited conversations. It was always the same. How they would be great, how they would make their family and/or clan proud or they would be unstoppable like the legendary ninja of old.

Naruto knew, that in terms of skill the highest most would achieve would probably be your average jounin. A select few would probably become Anbu. Naruto also knew that it was not skill that was needed to accomplish great deeds.

Towards the end of their days soon all would have an epic tale of their own to tell, that is all who lived long enough.

"I'm gonna be the greatest Hokage! Believe it!" Naruto heard the words, said with the voice he had been using for all these past years, yet he was distinctly sure he had not opened his mouth.

Blue eyes widened considerably and he sucked in a breath.

A boy stood on the desk, right before him and facing away. His posture screamed confidence with a will so strong Naruto was fixed in place staring in awe.

Before he could even think of reaching out to him, the image was gone in an instant and Minato was left wondering if he had seen anything at all.

"Naruto." _Yes, that was his name. Not mine. My name is-_

"Minato? Honey, are you ok?"

She was in his face, her bright green eyes staring directly into his. Brilliant blood red hair framed his vision. He reached out to touch it, to feel it, to inhale its scent.

That was when he realized there was a complete difference between her smell and this one.

It was a shockwave of pain that woke him up, with the origin being the point between his eyes. Pale lavender replaced green and dark purple took the place of red. Hyuga Hinata's face was a shade of red that matched the hair color of his wife in a different life.

"Naruto, if you don't mind I'd like my hair back." He let go as if he had been burned and leaned back slowly, waiting for the inevitable blow but it never came. The girl was all Hyuga poise and grace as she strode back to her chair stiff-faced, a chair which was 'coincidentally' way on the other side of class.

The class which had been the equivalent of a graveyard, chose that moment to erupt into chaos. Girls squealed and boys whistled. Hiroshi was thumping him on the back and Sai was taking notes. Sasuke was smirking at him with a raised eyebrow.

Before they buried him under a tonne of questions, Naruto decided a change of air was in order. Sai was probably the only unsurprised one when Naruto threw himself outside the window.

The blonde landed nimbly, but his legs shook with weakness beneath him. With a little speed he was round a corner away from the prying eyes of his soon-to-be former classmates.

"Minato," he whispered to himself, "you need to get a grip on yourself." He set a brisk pace back to his class. "I know you miss them, and seeing them here and there is fine and all, but..."

Naruto buried his face in his hands before using them to brush back his hair.

"You have to remember, they are not here."

Those words, he had to have said them so many times by now.

It had worked for a time. He had grown used to randomly seeing them walking hand in hand down the street, beside him in battle, in his bed.

The words...when they spoke, it was like a rock being drilled through his mind and soul exposing the raw emotions he kept hidden for so long.

Naruto knew if he let those emotions consume him, he could very well lose his way. How to face them without that happening was a question he doubted he would ever have an answer to.

The light from a window in the hallway blinded him slightly and he shifted, using his jaw-length bangs to shield his eyes.

It had been happening ever since he joined the academy. It had been the little one first, then she followed a while after. He didn't know why this happened. He had thought he'd let everything out when he visited the site where he and his family had made their last stand against the Demon Fox and cried his heart out.

Obviously something was still amiss.

But what?

He'd tried to fill the void with friends. He had made Sai into an emotionally awkward yet best brother a guy could ask for. If a boy and a girl could be best friends without other feelings attached, then Hinata and he had achieved that, though he wondered if she could look him in the eye without looking a little awkward. Sasuke and Hiroshi evened out his little group of friends nicely, Sasuke with his pseudo-normal behavior (when he wasn't brooding about revenge) and Hiroshi with his happy-go-lucky goofy attitude.

When friends are not enough, who or what does a back-from-the-dead-now-undercover-Root-operative-t hirteen-year-old turn to?

Naruto paused outside the door to his class. _To save the world, yet keep my own world from collapsing. Not as simple as I thought it would be._

Iruka-sensei found him smirking at his own sarcastic thought.

"Naruto, what are you doing outside class?"

The lie came easily.

"I had gone to the bath-"

"No time. Get into class. The sooner I'm rid of you the better." The chunin teacher half-joked with a small smile.

Naruto smiled back, though his eyes were drawn to the group of ninja behind him. Jounin, all of them but one caught his eye in particular.

"Kakashi? You're early."

A masked jounin with spiky silver hair and his hitai-ate tilted to cover an eye yanked his arm from the grip of another jounin.

"Yeah, no thanks to him." he said referring to the brown-haired ninja whose dull eyes held a spark of satisfaction. "Do I know you?" he asked focusing fully on Naruto. "You seem to know me."

Naruto was spared from having to cover up for his slip when Iruka practically kicked him through the door. "We're wasting time!"

Thanks to Iruka, the students focused on the jounin rather than Naruto, something the blonde was unimaginably thankful for. He rushed back to his chair without drawing attention, to find Sai sporting a bruise on his cheek.

"You didn't?" Naruto said flatly.

"I did," Sai nodded, "Sakura's hair smells of peaches."

Naruto relaxed in his seat, "Right, analysis?"

"Data inconclusive, though I've made a hypothesis; Sakura may be distantly related to Tsunade, the Slug sannin."

"I don't know, but Sai may have a point. She slugged the guy **hard**," Hiroshi exclaimed with emphasis on the hard.

"Shut up you guys, I'd like to start my career without a punishment."

"I will call the names of the teams. I don't have to remind you to pay attention. Ask me what team you're on and you will regret it." Iruka's voice echoed over the classroom, full of authority.

The students tensed, some with their fingers crossed.

"Team one: Kagetora Sado, Shinji Toutaku, Matou Ikaruga. Your jounin sensei is Miyamoto Kakkò."

"Team two:..."

Team ten was the Ino-Shika-Cho reborn, the irony of seeing it again hitting him. Otherwise, it went on and on, much like his own had been, all those years ago. Then there had been a jounin sensei with silver hair waiting for him. Would it be the same this year?

"Team seven: Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Hiroshi, Hyuga Hinata. Your sensei is Hatake Kakashi."

Apparently not. Though he had to admit, it would have made life interesting if the teacher had ended up becoming the student in a whole new way.

Sasuke looked pleased he had not ended up with a bunch of idiots, while Hiroshi smiled like an idiot. Hinata looked a little put out though her smile was genuine when responding to the Uchiha twins looks.

It came to team twelve. Naruto had already noticed that it was only Sai and him left.

"Team twelve: Uzumaki Naruto, Sai. Your jounin sensei is Yamato."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, that meant some other genin lacking a team would probably be brought into theirs. He'd known he would be paired up with Sai. Konoha tended to preserve such dynamics. That his sensei would be the only survivor of Orochimaru's fanatical and cruel experiments was a surprise. Last he'd heard (thirteen years ago) the boy had been put into Anbu. The man now, well, he would admit the happuri-style forehead protector was cool.

"Be proud, all of you. As of now, you are genin ninja of the leaf, soldiers sworn to protect the village." Iruka turned towards the jounin and gave a short bow, "Please take care of them," he said smiling. He stood off to the side, the pride shining in his eyes.

One by one the jounin-sensei called their teams and the newly minted genin shuffled behind them. Team seven and twelve were the last in the room.

Kakashi and the brown haired jounin who had bee n dragging Kakashi, now identified as Yamato faced the five children.

"Team seven." Kakashi called out in a lazy voice.

"Team twelve." Yamato echoed.

"Meet us on the roof."

And with that, the two jounin were gone, twin clouds of smoke masking their disappearance.

The Uchiha and Hinata wore confused frowns on their faces.

Iruka chuckled awkwardly. "Just follow them, Kakashi does this every year."

"Every year?" Hinata asked, her frown deepening.

Iruka was gone in a puff of smoke himself, plainly avoiding the question. Naruto stood up, "Well, lets go."

When they arrived, they found the jounin talking like old friends.

"Ah Tenzo, I will take great pleasure watching you burn in the deepest pits of hell for making me come this early," Kakashi said as though he was speaking of the weather.

Yamato didn't mind apparently. All he said was, "Stop calling me Tenzo."

Arrayed before the two, Kakashi told them to sit on some steps.

"Ok, lets begin. I'm Kakashi, you can call me Kakashi-sensei. This is Yamato. We are your jounin-sensei respectively. Normally we wouldn't be together like this, but he demands that I show him how this must go or he'll use me for fertilizer."

Massive sweat-drops all round.

"I know, the threat is lame, but perhaps it will carry more substance for you cute little green genin."

"Here's how it will go. Introduce yourself and tell me your likes, dislikes, dreams and ambitions. Hyuga, you go first."

"A demonstration would be nice," Hinata half-asked.

Kakashi sighed, and mumbled about foolishness. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. Likes; don't have any. Dislikes; none of your business. Dreams and ambitions; hmm...I forgot. Your turn."

Hinata sighed and grumbled about foolish teachers.

"I'm Hyuga Hinata. My likes are my friends. My dislikes are my family and clan. My ambition is to be a ninja of the leaf first and foremost."

"Interesting," Yamato spoke up for the first time, "aren't you the heir to the position of Clan Head?"

Hinata didn't like the question from the way that she scowled at the man. It was as if he had just force-fed her something nasty.

"You wouldn't understand," she spat. Yamato held up his hands to show he wouldn't push further.

"Next Uchiha one."

That was Sasuke, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. My likes are my brother, friends and training." Hiroshi put his hands right over his chest, putting on a touched expression.

"I'm still not telling you where the tomatoes are, dumbass."

Sasuke ignored him. "My dislikes are fan girls and people who cannot appreciate what they have. My ambition...is to kill my other brother."

Out of everyone present, Naruto's thoughts were perhaps the most unique.

_Do you know I only saw him a few days ago? He misses you terribly by the way and wanted me to tell you that you should train to grow strong. How is he you ask? He's fine, though I think he's lost a few pounds which can't mean good things for his health. Otherwise he's ok, just living as comfortably as a missing nin who gave it all up for his village._

Kakashi didn't waste time in trying to lighten the suddenly tense atmosphere.

"Uchiha two, you're up."

Hiroshi's was brief, "Mostly the same as my bro, but my ambition is to rebuild the Uchiha clan."

Kakashi nodded, before giving Yamato a pointed look.

Yamato cleared his throat. "My name is Yamato. Though call me Yamato-taichou. My likes are botany. My dislikes are laziness and people who cannot respect nature. My ambition is to serve the Leaf to the best of my ability. Uzumaki?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in thought. "Well, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. Likes; friends, ramen, family, training-"

"Smelling girls' hair," Hiroshi teased. While Naruto's eye was twitching, the Uchiha knelt behind behind Hinata a lock of her hair in his hand. He took a very long, very exaggerated whiff. "Oh Hinata, be mine so that I may sniff your hair everyday."

Every male present flinched when the jyuuken strike connected with Hiroshi's lower abdomen. "I'd like to see you rebuild your clan now," Hinata huffed and turned away trying hard to hide the red on her face.

"Well, either way...damn that looks like it hurt. Sasuke you could help and lift you're brother off the ground." Naruto suggested.

"If he tells me where he hid my tomatoes, I may feel inclined to talk."

"Never" came the high pitched girly whine from the puddle of destroyed manhood that lay curled on the floor.

Naruto chuckled along with everyone else except Sai who gave a small amused smile. Friends did not fill the void, yet they came close enough that he did not mind keeping them. Also managing to make Sai smile was an achievement that he would not and could not allow to go to waste.

"My dislikes are...well, you'll learn about them soon enough. As for my ambition, to save as many as I can."

"From what?" Tenzo asked.

Naruto faced the man with a smile, "I don't have a definite answer for you, though we all need to be saved from something, don't we?"

Yamato looked him in the eye for the longest time, as if those two balls of flesh and fluid held all the answers.

"Your turn Sai."

The boy spoke like a machine. "I am Sai. I like drawing. I have no dislikes. My ambition...is to follow Naruto and help him accomplish whatever challenges he may face."

"Fag, hehe-ouch!" Hinata apparently did not appreciate touching moments being ruined by nasty comments.

"He does have a point though," Kakashi could not resist adding his two cents. "I should remind you, relationships among team-mates are not recommended."

Yamato nodded sagely, "It gets in the way of the mission." Plainly, he did not get the on-going joke.

The blonde wanted to kill someone. "Perverts, all of you. Dirty, sick twisted pervets."

"Well," Kakashi began, "this was fun. Now, tomorrow there is a genin test for you all to see if you truly deserve to be ninja of the leaf."

"Didn't we just graduate? We have hitai-ate and all." Hiroshi voiced the general question.

"I know, but its nothing to worry about really. After all the five of you did tie for rookie of the year. You've all caused quite a stir. Everyone's talking about it."

"So it should be simple enough for you to pass," Yamato added. "Uzumaki, Sai, meet me at training ground twenty tomorrow at six a.m. You'll meet your third teammate there also."

"Team seven, same time, training ground fourteen. Don't eat breakfast by the way."

_Really? Tradition is well and good Kashi-kun, but you should try and mix things up a little._

When Kakashi saw Naruto's small smile, he felt a slight chill invade his body.

"Tomorrow then," and a cloud of smoke signaled his departure. Yamato gave them a nod and followed suite.

There was a moment of silence before Naruto stood up, followed by Sai. The blonde haired genin leapt up on the rail the jounin had been leaning on.

"Sai and I have some errands to run. I guess I'll catch you guys later?"

"See ya,"

"Hn"

"Naruto wait!"

That last one was Hinata. Naruto was surprised. The picture appeared so awkward. A shy Hinata?

"I wanted to thank you. Cause of you, I have good memories of these last four years."

"I should be thanking you Hinata," Naruto smiled. If she stuttered he would have quit ramen for a year, or a month, or a week. Most likely a day.

He turned to the others. "Don't get your hopes up, Naruto."

"Your welcome, Sasuke, Hiroshi."

He turned away, to face the village. Spread out before him, with its ninja hopping from rooftop to rooftop like fleas, he remembered that he loved it, same as all those years ago.

"Officially a ninja huh?"

It was sudden. It hit the ground in an explosion of dust and debris, fifteen feet tall and Naruto found himself staring into glass eyes.

"Hello there, Naruto asked dumbly.

Its arm came up, great and wooden, in a fierce uppercut that tore through the academy building like it was paper.

It went through the roof too, and as the ground collapsed under him, Minato's first thought was, _not again._

**Pairings undecided. Though definitely not anything between guys. Hopefully I'll update this sooner.**


End file.
